Saturday, May 08, 2010

Looking for Mable


I found this picture in a box in the attic. It had loads of old pictures my Dad had gotten from his mother's house when she died in 1964. Neither my brother or I had a clue the box was up there and if I had known it was there I would pulled it out years ago to go over with Dad. There are pictures of great aunts, great uncles, cousins once, twice, three times removed. Some have names on the back, others don't.

This picture of Mable has her name on the back, but no date. It simply states "Mable *insert Augie's last name*". I called my Dad's twin sister last weekend to see if she knew who Mable is/was and she didn't know. Unfortunately Aunt Virginia is 86 years old and is the last of Dad's siblings, so if she doesn't know I don't know who would.

Because of this box of photos I plunked down $145 to join Ancestry.com. I am completely and totally addicted to this website. I am having a blast reseaching my family. So far I haven't found Mable, and my fear is that she lived and died in between one of the census. The picture looks like it was taken around 1915 to maybe 1925. The database for the 1850 to 1930 census is pretty detailed, and I have found most of my Dad's family in each of them, but no Mable. I also am having trouble finding records for several of Dad's uncles and one Aunt.

I am hoping as more people join the website and input their families I'll get matches for them. But as of today I am searching for Mable, Lenia, Hezakiah, Hercias and their immediate families.

I've had much more luck with Mom's side. Her brother Norman had done extensive research years ago so I knew a lot going in. And since Mom's family basically immigrated to Pennsylvania and has stayed there, it's been easier getting connections from other members' trees. Dad's family immigrated to Philadelphia from England, then moved all over the south. We had originally thought Dad's side was from Tennessee, North Carolina, and Oklahoma. Imagine my surprise to find out we also have connections to Virginia, South Carolina, West Virginia, Alabama, and Texas.

The immigration information I've gotten has completely surprised me, too. We thought Dad's family was from Ireland (wrong...England), and Mom's was solely German. Well, we have a strong Irish link from Mom's side to include the German, and Dad's is the English and German. I have found greatgrandparents (many times removed) from Finland, Switzerland, France, Italy, Sweden, and Norway.

We knew we had Cherokee blood, but I've also found we are related to the Delaware Tribe (a great grandfather was Chief Big Thunder, born 1594 in Delaware). This is on my Mom's side. She would have loved to have know this! Chief Big Thunder's daughter (my great grandmother many times removed) was named Princess Bright Lightning. She married a Finnish immigrant named Hendrick Coleman, and their line eventually made it's way to my Mom's mom. How cool!

And? I'm related to Humphry Bogart!!! We share a great grandfather (9 times removed for me, 8 times removed for Humphry - his name was John *insert Augie's last name*). This great grandfathers' sons all immigrated to America. His son John *insert Augie's last name* Jr came to Philly and this lineage made it's way to me. Another son Simon *insert Augie's last name* also came to Philly and his lineage made it's way to Humphry. Humphry and I are distant cousins. My Aunt Virginia was thrilled to find this out. I am too. :-)

There is also evidence of links to German Dukes and Duchesses. Hopefully this information won't go to my head. I'll try not to start referring to myself as Princess/Duchess Augie, however if you'd like to call me Princess Augie feel free!

Be prepared to be bored with more details of my family's history as I find them. I also plan on posting more photos. I'm obsessed with all these old photos and it's been rewarding to find out the details of their lives.

10 Comments:

Blogger Swami said...

Just so you know - I'm a 23rd cousin of Prince Charles.

5/08/2010 4:13 PM  
Blogger yvonne said...

Swami, does this mean you are in line to the throne? That is of course if Queen Elizabeth EVER steps down.

5/08/2010 7:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

LOL at the two of you.

How wonderful for you Augie that you are finding out all of this. I do not know of this site, but it sounds intriging, especially as I have battled with deciding whether or not to try to find out anything abou tmy father or any part of that side of my family.

5/10/2010 11:38 AM  
Blogger Swami said...

No. We 23rd cousins get no respect. At all.

5/10/2010 11:48 AM  
Blogger frodis said...

Augie, I completely understand your fascination with Ancestry.com.

My dad has always been the family record keeper and has information on relatives going way, way back. Photos, too. I am intrigued by all of the ancestry and stories and finding family, and for a while I was digging around Ancestry.com, too. I think I have an account there, but it's been a while.

I found some census information on my great grandparents, and emailed it to my dad and he found a while bunch more from what I found. It was so much fun. We ended up finding out that we're Norwegian, originally. They moved from Scandinavia to Poland, and then on to America, picking up language and traditions along the way.

As for Mable - what a cute girl. I hope you find her. Is there any chance that Mable might have been a nickname? Maybe a middle name or family name? We found great aunts and uncles who we discovered went by names that weren't their actual names. (Talk about confusing.)

Have fun! I LOVE old photos, can't wait to see more!

5/10/2010 1:36 PM  
Blogger Breezy said...

I've stayed away from that site, cause I know I would become addicted. *shiver*

Could Mable be short or a nickname for something else?

5/11/2010 11:41 AM  
Blogger yvonne said...

Breezy - you would totally get addicted. It's just so interesting to find out all this information. They link geneology and history books, military records, immigration records, the census records, marriage records...etc. I am fascinated with the lives my relatives led. It makes them real, as stupid as that sounds.

Swami - How.Dare.They. Ignore the 23rd cousins. Bunch of snobs!!!

Boo - try it, you'll like it!

Frodis - it's great your Dad is the record keeper. It really is important. I bet if you go back to the website to do more research you'll get hooked, too.

OH MY GAWD! The Ancestry.com commercial is running right NOW! *spooky* :-)

Frodis and Breezy - I think Mable is her first name, because all the photos that have names on them list the full name. And in the search engine for the website you can search for first and middle names, and exact matches, etc. So I'm getting hits for "Mable", "Mabel" and people not even remotely named Mable, but so far I haven't been able to connect the matches to known family members. It's very frustrating.

5/11/2010 5:30 PM  
Blogger Puffy said...

How fun! I now know 2 princesses, Princess Augie and Princess Swami.

Do you watch "Who Do You Think You Are?" on Friday nights? It's done for the season but will be on a second season. I love that show.

I have lots of old photos.

Mabel, Mabel, set the table, don't forget the red hot pepper!!! (Did you used to sing this while jumping rope?)

5/13/2010 9:43 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I had the funniest dream about this site last night. I dreamed that I joined and could plug in anyone's name, and it would spit out a report. And in my dream, everyone was related to someone famous.

5/14/2010 10:18 AM  
Blogger yvonne said...

Puffy, you need to join Ancestry. It's load of fun.

Boo, I'd like to have an Ancestry dream. I seem to have work related dreams. Hate those.

5/14/2010 4:11 PM  

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