So, here I am, Day 34 of Self-Isolation, COVID-19 still running rampant and MiLady Rabbit has been contemplating my demise. (To date: unsuccessfully.).
“Go play on your genealogy computer!” she scolded. “Go outside and work on the yard! Just get out of my hair! I’m trying to work!”
I pouted and shuffled away quietly. I was bored.
I had done what she suggested. I also did two sets of #genchat Qcards for two topic discussions and chipped away ice from the sidewalk (long before it melted). I printed out the rest of the 2019 annual updates to my research notebooks (9) that didn’t get done at Christmas time, and scanned pages and photographs that had occupied one and a half 38L (40Qt) totes for the better part of 20-odd years!
Then, I got very brave and (attempted) to downsize/ re-organize my laptop files.
OMG! I almost fell off of my wooden barstool – the one I use instead of a bulky office chair because a chair would take too much room away for bringing in more bookshelves!
So, during this Great Purge (which isn’t done yet), I found notes, letters, pictures, and photographs that I was certain were lost when my trio of Army men and I left Ontario in 2001 to start a new life in Alberta with my soon MiLady-Rabbit-To-Be.
One such note is shared above, with some observations in blue and red. The church is the Kirkby Stephen parish where John and Elizabeth (HODGSON) ATKINSON were married and 4/5 of their *known* children were baptized. Robert was christened in Ravenstonedale.
John and Elizabeth were my immigrant ancestors; my 4th great grandparents to be exact, and it seems they kept with the traditional baby-naming patterns of the day, except for one small oversight:
When naming daughters, the eldest daughter was usually named after her maternal grandmother, while the second daughter took on the given name of her paternal gramma. My ancestors went with John’s side for both first-born children.
And to add to this little mess, there are two pieces of unproven research:
- a fourth daughter named Alice. It is possible she is named after the eldest sister of either John OR Elizabeth – I state John OR Elizabeth because Mary got her name from her paternal side rather than maternal by tradition; and,
- a third son was named John – of course, after his father.
Any further information on these two (hypothetical) children is unknown, but I toss it out in the open for review.
Further information about Ann and Elizabeth is also unknown, as neither of the girls would be CHILDREN of LIBERTY on the BIG BOAT WEST with their parents, John and Elizabeth, older sister Mary (who was married and traveling in her second, almost third, trimester!) and brothers Thomas and Robert.
I believe, a combination of possibilities for Ann and Elizabeth are, but not limited to:
- one, or both, dying young,
- one, or both, becoming indentured servants,
- one, or both, marrying
And this is how my family history story begins: