It’s always nice to get “real” mail these days. Most of what I get is junk – what a waste!
I was pleasantly surprised to have this waiting for me when I got back from the Atlanta Family History Expo.
One step closer to DAR Membership….
My good friend, Cherie Cayemberg, has just recently started her new genealogy blog – entitled Have You Seen My Roots? I encourage you to head over there and welcome her to the geneablogging community.
Cherie and I have known each other for quite some time now – longer than I’d like to admit. 🙂 We served in the military together and she was later a Drill Sergeant with my husband. She is a wonderful mom and a very talented genealogist. She is on the road to becoming a professional. I am excited about following her through her journey, so that I can learn from her. I’m waiting for her to blaze the trail for me. 🙂
Here is the “about me” blurb from her blog:
“After years of talking about becoming a professional genealogist, my loving husband told me to just do it. So instead of talking about it, I’m currently journeying down the path to accreditation (or at least that’s the goal). There are many things that will be thrown in my way, from PTA and Cub Scout meetings, mommy-ing, and (naturally) the challenge of actually preparing for and passing the accreditation! This is my journey. Presented honestly, and hopefully, without offending…”
When I started my research, I began with what I knew and worked back like most people.
It’s exciting to find each new generation though – often more exciting than filling in the blanks on some of the more recent ones.
As I have been filling out my DAR paperwork, I have realized that there are a lot of things that I “skipped” concerning my grandparents and great-grandparents. The memories of my aunts and uncles are helpful, but they are not proof of my grandparents’ birth or marriage dates.
I have been busy remedying my early mistakes by ordering a slew of birth, death, and marriage certificates.
As I was reading the most recent issue of Family Tree Magazine, I was happy to have found the website of the Washington Digital Archives listed as one of the best state websites. I didn’t even know the website existed.
And I was even happier to have found a copy of my grandparents’ marriage certificate, scanned in, just waiting for me to find it. 🙂
Theirs wasn’t the only one either. I was able to find the certificates for both of my grandmother’s sisters, too.
The birth and death records were also helpful, but there were not scanned images of them – for obvious reasons.
So, I have found yet another great resource to add to my genealogy “toolbox”. My bookmark list is getting pretty long!!
And I’m not talking about Aunt Mildred with the purple hair. (I don’t really have an Aunt Mildred and I’m not sure why I’ve envisioned her with purple hair.)
I don’t mean my brother with his foot-tall mohawk, either. Actually, I think it suits him and I don’t find it in the least bit embarrassing. 🙂
I mean the ancestor that did something awful. Something that no one wants to talk about.
I was searching through Ancestry the other night – trying to work on solving the mystery of my 2nd great grandmother. I don’t allow myself to do too much in depth research right now until I have caught up on entering the info I already have. I get on there and do random searches though to see if any new records have shown up – because I just can’t help myself. I’m addicted, I know. I fear there is no cure.
Anyway, the other night I found a couple of horrible newspaper articles on her brother, Solomon Madison Hattery. She didn’t exactly have a picture perfect life either, but that’s a story for another day.
Solomon was born in May of 1876 to Solomon Hattery and Martha Jane Mowery. His sister, Ella, was my direct ancestor.
He was married to a Sarah Kearns in 1892. I believe that they had a child who was later adopted.
He married Flora McGee in 1895 and had 2 daughters with her. They were divorced.
He married Ada Littler in 1910.
He later married a woman named Frances in 1917, and the announcement of their divorce is what I found.
From the Evening State Journal and Lincoln Daily News, dated 13 August 1918:
In a petition for divorce filed in district court Tuesday, Frances Hattery alleges that Solomon Madison Hattery has been guilty of extreme cruelty, but she does not state of what such cruelty consisted. The parties were married in Lincoln, January 29, 1917, and have no children.
And then dated 23 September 1918:
Frances Hattery was granted a decree of divorce from Solomen M. Hattery by Judge Flansburg of the district court Monday morning. The parties had both been married before and the defendant had a daughter, seventeen years of age, who came to live with them after their marriage, which took place in January 1917. Plaintiff testified that the defendant had been guilty of incest, she having been an unexpected witness and the girl having written letters admitting the facts. These letters were introduced in evidence.
I don’t think that anyone likes to hear the word “incest” anywhere in their family history. It’s the truth though and I’m not out to sugar coat it or cover it up. He doesn’t need to be remembered as a loving father. He can be remembered for the creep that he was.
Sorry if he’s your direct ancestor and you’re offended. Whatever he did doesn’t reflect on the person that you are.
I have not done enough research yet to learn what happened to Solomon in later years. Most of what I found was done fairly quickly and more geared towards finding more info on my direct line. The last mention I have of him is in the 1930 census, he was living in St. Louis and listed as married, but not living with a wife. Did he marry again?
And did he get punished for what he did or was it simply the grounds for his wife’s divorce? Was that something that they prosecuted in the early 1900s? It’s a shame that it happened, and I feel truly sorry for his daughter. I really hope that she went on to have a happy life.
Should I try to get a copy of the divorce records or should I just leave it alone?
This Hattery family seems to have had a lot of skeletons in the closet….
Sometimes, I think that it might be nice to have deep roots in a specific country’s heritage. An Italian grandfather. A German grandmother. Someone who could pass down all of the traditions and treats of their country. Who could sing you lullabies in a foreign tongue.
I don’t have that though. The latest my family came into the U.S. was the 1910s. My maternal grandmother’s parents immigrated from Sweden not long before she was born in Washington state. She grew up in the Swedish community of Ballard, in Seattle. She didn’t speak the language though and didn’t pass down many Swedish traditions into our family. Her parents died long before I was born, so I didn’t have that connection. The closest connection to the “old country” I would have to say was her older sister Elvy.
But my Swedish heritage is not what I’m talking about today. Today, I wanted to celebrate the fact that I have such a diverse family to research, especially if I add in my husband’s side – which I am also actively working on.
My children have ancestors that:
- Immigrated from Sweden to WA in the 1910s
- Left Norway for Minnesota in the 1880s
- Served in the Revolutionary War
- Served on both sides of the Civil War
- Were slaveowners and others that were abolitionists
- Left Germany following the Revolution in 1848
- Immigrated from Ireland in the 1840-50s
- Were glassblowers, farmers, ministers, railroad workers, day laborers, soldiers, printers, barbers, and more.
- Settled in Kansas Territory as soon as it opened up
- Immigrated from England, through Canada.
- Were Quakers, Irish Catholics, Methodists, French Huguenots, Mormons, Lutherans and more.
- Earned a purple heart in World War II after being hit by a kamikaze
- Served in the First Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania
- Traveled along the Mormon Trail
- Were illegitimate
- Traveled West
- Were Dutch settlers to the New World from probably the late 1600s
- Immigrated from Spain to Germany in the early 1800s and then on to Iowa in 1850
- Served in France during WWI
- were illiterate and others that were well-educated
They say that America is a great melting pot and my family is definitely proof of that – as are most American families.
It just amazes me to look at how many different types of people, from such diverse backgrounds went into “making” a little piece of my children. 🙂
