A recipe for your enjoyment

     This article was originally written last year to submit to a magazine for a section on recipes they requested from their readership. It was selected on an initial round and then about a month later, the magazine folded. $400 just trickled down the drain! So, I might as well make use of it. I have added a few full names and dates that were not in the original.

Scottish Shortbread

     This recipe arrived in the United States when my husband's paternal grandparents, Annie Mackie McAlister and David Buchanan immigrated. Davy arrived just before WWI and served for a short time in the service. Because of the war, his fiancee, Annie, didn't come to the United States until 1919, they married almost immediately and spent most of their lives in Boston. They had both been born in Glasgow, Scotland.

     Scotland is not known for its cuisine, but one of the recipes Annie brought with her is still made in the family, four generations later - Scottish shortbread. It was, and still is, traditionally made for the holidays and other special occasions.

     After Davy passed away in 1953, Annie spent more and more time with her only child, Stanley Mackie Buchanan and his wife Barbara Lindberg, and their family. At 82, after being mugged near her home in Boston, Annie finally agreed to live with them and moved to Houston, where they were living at the time. As Annie aged, Barbara took over the shortbread duties. Annie lived to age 97, died in 1986, and never lost her brogue, sense of humor, excitement for living, or enjoyment of her family.

     I joined the family when I married the oldest son, Bruce, in 1976. I had always loved baking, so naturally, as my mother-in-law got older, I began to take over the shortbread duties for family occasions. It was not easy to master the finer points. Annie never followed a recipe and couldn't tell you the measurements of the ingredients. One day, my husband's sister, Leslie, stood next to Annie as she "measured" out the flour, sugar and butter. Leslie put them in a measuring cup and wrote down the results. It worked! We had a recipe. But something we couldn't write down was how to determine the right consistency after mixing on the counter with our hands. It takes practice. It is always baked in old metal layer cake pans, cut in pie wedges and cooled on a rack.

RECIPE FOR SCOTTISH SHORTBREAD

     2 1/4-2 1/2 cups flour

     1/2 cup refined sugar

     1/2 lb butter - not quite room temperature, cut into pieces

         Blend the flour and sugar by hand, on the counter. Next, blend in the butter pieces. The consistency needs to be moist, but not sticky.

         Pat the dough into two round 9-in. layer cake pans. Press the fork around the edges of the shortbread to make a nice pattern. Prick around the top of the dough with the fork, all the way to the bottom. Bake at 325 degrees for about 30-40 minutes. It should be a nice golden brown color when done.  Cool slightly before cutting into small pie wedges and cool further before removing from the pans.  Gentleness is needed at this stage. We put a towel on top of the pan, and turn the pan over gently until the shortbread is on the towel. Transfer it to the cooling rack. Store in a covered metal container.

     Requests for shortbread are still lovingly granted by me for now, but our son is learning to conquer the recipe. He has made it for his friends and is the fourth generation in this country - one hundred years later, to make Scottish shortbread - brought here by Annie.

Article and Preserving History

     It is very exciting to see my name in print - both as author of: "Water: Both Life and Death to the Beckington Family," AND seeing it as one of the featured articles listed on the cover of the Illinois State Genealogical Society Quarterly. It appears in Vol. 46, No. 4, Winter 2014 issue. It turned out looking good as well as an interesting read (bragging here a bit). Thank you to Managing Editor, Julie Tarr, for all her help. Also, Rebekah (Beckington) Fleury, a cousin, for her support and help with many of the footnotes and proofreading. I also appreciate all the editing help from my writers group "Writers on Wheels." It is a story of the Beckington's journey to the United States from England in 1847. Most of it is true and backed by stories written and passed down. There is a link on my website so you can enjoy reading it.

     On another note: I received a phone call the other day from a man in the DC area. He had been searching online for anyone connected with a Matthew Gault Emery. Mr. Emery is in my genealogy database and on my website. He is connected to the Hazeltons. He was born in 1818 in New Hampshire, but spent most of his life in the DC area. He married Mary Kittredge Hazeltine probably around 1853, youngest of eight children of William and Abigail (Emery) Hazeltine. You can put his name into Wikipedia and find out quite a bit about him.  He was the last Mayor of DC (1870-1871). It was 104 years before DC once again elected a Mayor. Matthew also served as Marshall of Abraham Lincoln's inaugural parade in 1860. He died in 1901. He has even more accomplishments and it is an interesting read. Check it out! His wife, Mary, is my 2nd cousin, 6x removed!  Just sayin'.....

     The reason for this man's call to me is that he helped an elderly lady many years ago clean out her attic before downsizing. She let him have a few papers that they found. Among them was the "Certificate of Indebtedness for Paving Pennsylvania Avenue," stamp -dated December, 1871. It is signed by M. G. Emery. It is a blank form, so not sure of the significance of it or what purpose it served. Maybe other similar forms were filled in and given to those that participated in the paving. This man would like to sell it. I suggested giving it to an Historical Society. He says he has tried and they are not interested, but I don't know if money was required before handing it over to them. I did find a descendant of Mr. Emery's and contacted him via email. He had already heard from this man. Hopefully the Certificate will not just disappear. History needs to be preserved!

How old was your great-grandfather when you were born?

We have a family member who has the unusual distinction of having a great-grandfather who was born in 1791.

Thomas Lee Combs, was born on August 30, 1947, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Tom's father was born on January 7, 1897.

Tom's grandfather was born on July 28, 1850.

Tom's great-grandfather was born in 1791.

     Tom's father, George, was the youngest of five surviving boys, born in Stoney Creek, Washtenaw Co., Michigan. George was married to Fannie Barnum (1896-1940). They had two children: Ester and Dean. The babysitter for the children was Elberta D. Alber (1916-1979). George married Elberta on 3 Aug 1942, and they are Tom's parents.

     George's parents were: Seymour Erastus Combs and his wife, Frances J. Potter. Seymour was the youngest of six children. His parents were:

     Richard, born in 1791.His wife was Anna Coffee (or Hill) Crosby. Richard was born in England and came to the United States probably in the late 1820s or early 1830s and settled in New York. He was married to Clarissa. At some point, he abandoned Clarissa (she eventually divorced him) and settled in Michigan, probably traveling via the newly built Erie Canal. He met Anna Crosby, probably in New York, wife of Lemuel Crosby. Anna had three children with Lemuel. Richard and Anna married in 1843. They had six children, at least three were born before they married: Charles, Hiram, Alice, Mary, Almon (who died as an infant), and Seymour. Seymour was born a few months after his father, Richard, was gored by a bull and died.

     For those who are math-challenged (!) - George, was 50 years old when Tom was born, George's father, Seymour, was 47 at the time of his birth, and HIS father, Richard, was 59 when Seymour was born. A lot of years in between - 156 to be exact. Naturally, the mothers of these men were younger than their husbands. Richard's and George's wives were both 19 years younger. Frances was 8 years younger than Seymour.

     Seymour was about five years too young for the Civil War, but he had many contemporaries who served. I don't see any evidence that his older brothers served in the Civil War, but more research needs to be done. Many of Tom's contemporaries had fathers who served during WWII. Tom's father was in the very last days of WWI.

     On the other end of the spectrum: A cousin was born in 1954, she had her first child when she was 18. This child had his first baby in 1993 at the age of 20, so she  was a grandmother at 38. Her mother was born in 1936, which made this woman a great-grandmother at 57. The great-great-grandmother of the child born in 1993, was born in 1914. If she had lived to 79, they could have posed for a five-generation portrait.

     Tom's great-grandfather was 156 years older than he was, whereas the cousin's lineage had 57 years between a baby and her great-grandmother. So, I got curious about my great-grandfathers - 111, 102, 99 and 76 when I was born. None were alive and neither were any of my great-grandmothers. How old were yours?

Bits and Pieces

It has been a fast two months since I added to this blog - what have I done in two months?

     The most exciting answer to that question goes to writing an article which will be published any day now in the current issue of the Illinois State Genealogical Society Quarterly.  http://www.ilgensoc.org.  It is titled: "Water - Both Life and Death to the Beckington Family." It is about the Beckington family's journey to the United States from England in 1847. I can't wait to see it in print and for everyone to read it. You can request a copy of the issue, but they don't print a great many extras. Let me know if you would like a copy of the article. I can send you one via email.

     The holidays are upon us and of course that means family. We had eight around our table at Thanksgiving this year. It was fun to catch up with everyone. Too much food - but then, that is the point - right? My husband is the pie maker in our family - this year he made three: Chocolate Pecan (the favorite), Apple (always wonderful) and a Sweet Potato (maybe because we are northerners - it wasn't the biggest hit). It was especially fun to have a nephew and his family fly from Florida to join us for the weekend. I was excited to meet his wife and son (6) for the first time - and loved them both!

     Our Study Group celebrated three years in September (actually early October). We had new goals and some being a continuation last year. I am continually amazed at the different levels,  interests and strengths that each of us brings to the table. We all learn from each other.

I still have a client that I have ignored this fall, but I hope by early January to get a summary done of the information I have gathered and see where we stand, and where we still need to go to complete the project to his satisfaction.

     The writers group - Writers on Wheels - is keeping me on my toes. I have started another article. This time I am tackling Bruce's mother's family. His paternal grandmother (Madelyn) was born in Massachusetts and I am writing about a fire in their hometown (at the time) of Chelsea, MA that affected her mother (Minnie) and consequently Madelyn's life.

     For family members, we lost our Aunt Jim (Alice Louise Beckington Templeton) on November 23, just a few weeks shy of her 91st birthday (December 8, 1923). She was born in Michigan, but died in New Mexico. She was the last (and youngest) of Garth and Edna (Childs) Beckington's eight children. That generation for us, including spouses, is now gone. As one cousin said in an email "Makes us feel alone." That is true. In our generation - the grandchildren of Garth and Edna - there were 23 - six boys and the rest girls. We have lost six of these grandchildren, including two of Aunt Jim's children.  The oldest grandchild was born in 1930 and the youngest two were born in 1954. I have counted 52 in the next generation and we are going strong in the generation after that. I have a feeling I have lost count. Unfortunately, everyone is not as connected as we used to be. Facebook does help though.

     Another comment concerning Aunt Jim and New Mexico. She has two cousins from her generation (children of her father's siblings) still alive. One will be 90 next May and the other, a male, will be 94 at the end of January. These two (one born in DC and the other in Illinois) are both in New Mexico (what are the odds?) and all three have some form of macular degeneration. Beckington cousins beware!

    And I just know some of you are asking: How did she get her nickname 'Jim'? The story is that even though Garth had five sons none was named Jim and he always liked that name. Since Alice was going to be their last child (her mother, Edna, was 44 when Jim was born), he decided she was going to be the 'Jim'. And it stuck, all her life, to her family anyway. I think those outside the family called her Louise. What made it even more confusing was that she was married to Terry. So when you said Aunt Jim and Uncle Terry, people would say - you have that backwards. No, we didn't!

 

 Alice Louise (Beckington) Templeton

December 8, 1923 - November 23, 2014

Another anniversary for the Study Group

     I haven't written about my study group lately - we are still going strong after three years! I am so proud of us ALL. We have had only one lady discontinue over the years, and another who early on started a job and really never came to meetings, but I still send her the emails written before and after the meetings - she says she saves them all and is always interested in what we are doing. So, we are seven strong. We meet once a month. We set new goals each year and usually accomplish at least half of them - some being on-going or long term that hang around for all time.

     Everyone now has a database on their computer. Most have inputted at LEAST the four generations they need to produce a nice pedigree. We are ALL working on sourcing, but that gets easier with time. We have had lessons on several aspects of research; been to the three major libraries in our area; currently trying to coordinate a trip to the State Archives (in downtown Phoenix at the Capital); written stories about our ancestors; shared new finds; ordered documents and just plain enjoyed it all.

     I am encouraging them to start their own website and/or maybe even a blog. At our last meeting, one of the members gave us a talk about how she organizes her research when she starts a new search - such as for a in-law, or a new branch of the family. She sets up a notebook, accumulates as much data from - say, her son-in-law and his family -and starts with the usual suspects: Google, Ancestry and/or Familysearch. She sources as she goes along - Bless her Heart! The sourcing actually gives her a wonderful timeline as she moves backward collecting ancestors and documentation. She can then use the timeline to see what holes, etc. she has and what/where she still needs to research. It was a great learning lesson. We all approach things differently, but we all do some things the same way and we are always learning something new.

     Now to plan the next meeting....