Forebears and Bears

I received wonderful mail from a cousin sometime past that enclosed photos and momentos in his possession which had belonged to our grandmother.  All great items I am thankful to have.  One of the items was an envelope on which was written: "Do Not Throw Away, Some of my ancestors as told to me by my mother."  Wow.  In the absence of a family bible, this is worth gold.  The notes, some handwritten and some typed, confirmed much of my research and I was glad to know I was headed in the right direction.  I only wish her information had extended even further back in the ancestral tree as these notes ended where my own research had ended - with Sophia King my great great great great grandmother.  This Midwest branch of the family tree looks like this: My grandmother's notes offered this (I can only surmise that these notes were left by my grandmother Wilma to probably one of her sons given the relationships described by the writer, i.e., "my great grandmot...

If you've read any of my past posts you know that I descend from indigenous people of Cape Cod, but, I also descend from many Mayflower passengers.  Being a native Cape Codder almost guarantees a Mayflower connection.  Having ancestors on both sides of the story reveals a lot about the complex history of the region.  But as it is Thanksgiving week, I am focusing on my Mayflower ancestry in this post, an ancestry I am proud of.   Photographed above left is my great grandfather William Morgan and his wife's sisters Lila Holway and Addie Taylor, all of Yarmouth.  They were visiting Plymouth, Massachusetts, along with William's wife Violet, my great grandmother, sometime after 1921 when the statue was erected, but before 1939 when Violet died.  I estimate this picture to have been taken approximately 1930. The four of them are pictured above right standing in front of what appears to be the Plymouth Rock Monument. The statue of Massasoit was completed in 1...

Timothy Taylor was born 13 November 1831 at Yarmouth, Massachusetts to Timothy Taylor (b.1785) and his wife Nancy.  In 1832, a year after Timothy's birth, his father was "supposed to be lost at sea."  His mother Nancy, then married Joshua Ellis.  These two marriages were in fact the third and fourth marriages for Nancy. A Little About Timothy’s Mother Nancy Nancy was born Nancy Nickerson on 9 October 1794 to John and Deborah (Studley) Nickerson at Yarmouth.   She married first Thomas Greenough Brooks (a grandson to Thomas Greenough of Yarmouth) with whom she had two daughters —   Julia A., and Nancy Jane.   Thomas and Nancy Brooks are my three times great grandparents; Nancy Jane Brooks and her husband George Washington Chase are my two times great grandparents.                   Thomas Greenough Brooks was probably lost at sea before February 1826 when his wife Nancy married Moses Montcalm (marriage registered 1...