Treasure Chest Thursday: Great Grandma & Grandpa Madsen's Drop-Leaf Table

When I was growing up, one the pieces of furniture that was always around the house was this cute, little drop-leaf table that my mom was very fond of. I knew that it had been a wedding present for my great grandparents, Lars Hansen Madsen (Grandpa Louie) and his wife, Johanna Bruhns, but I didn't know its whole story until fairly recently.

Louie (1893-1971) and Hannah (1886-1965) married on April 4, 1917, in San Francisco, California. I don't know who gifted them this wonderful drop-leaf table, but it has remained in the family, mostly, ever since. A little over a year ago, when I moved into my current apartment, my mom told me that she remembered the table being in her family when she was a young girl. This means that Grandpa and Grandma Madsen must have given the table to their oldest daughter and my maternal grandmother, Donna Madsen Bartram (1919-1966). Mom said that the table, by that time, was pretty scratched up and not in the best of shape, likely due to the family moving around. However, she always loved the little table and had hoped to have it for her own, someday, when she got married herself.

Lars Hansen Madsen and Johanna Bruhns

At some point, after my Grandpa John and Grandma Donna were in a horrible car accident in 1959, and Grandma was in poor heath due to her head injury and other ailments, Grandma Donna's best friend, Marie, came to the house and took the little table away. Mom was understandably disappointed: it seemed that this piece of her childhood would no longer be hers. However, when my mom and dad got married in 1964, Mom got an amazing gift that she wasn't expecting: Marie had taken the table, but not to keep for herself. She'd had the piece refinished to its original glory and gave it to Mom and Dad for their wedding!

As I mentioned above, the table always had a special place in our various family homes when I was growing up, and I think I loved it just as much as my mom did. I was always careful not to scratch it when dusting the furniture, and I hoped that someday Mom and Dad would pass it down to me, perhaps as a wedding gift.

Well, the years have passed, I'm a middle-aged woman and I'm still not married (it's ok -- I'm quite happy as a single girl!). So, when I moved into my darling 1920s apartment -- complete with built-ins, original hardwood floors and brimming with character -- I knew that Great Grandma and Grandpa Madsen's drop-leaf table would be a perfect addition to my new home. One day, I gathered the courage to make my case to Mom: I may or may not ever get married, but I'd really love to have that table someday, and would she mind offering it to me as a house-warming gift? As luck would have it, she and her husband, Rodney, were already looking for a bigger piece of storage furniture, and the drop-leaf was taking up space where that new piece would go. So, they loaded it up in their pickup truck and brought it to me that very weekend!!

I see our family treasure every morning when I walk out of my bedroom and head down the hall to get ready for my day. It holds Grandpa John and Grandma Donna's wedding photo and a Christmas picture of my Mom, Aunt Brenda and Uncle Jimmy when they were very little (even before Uncle Clay was born). I need to have Great Grandma and Grandpa Madsen's photo framed and included on the table, in a place of honor among their family. But I think of them both often, and I think they would be happy that their great grand daughter still cherishes this lovely piece of furniture that was given to them as they started their own lives together nearly 100 years ago.

Wedding Wednesday: John Bartram and Esther Meredith

John and Esther Bartram are the older
couple seated. My great grandfather,
Joseph Bartram, is the handsome
gentleman standing in the rear.

While visiting my cousins, Steven and Carl, in Wales last summer, we got to tour the farmhouse in Llanrothal, Hereford, England (just on the border with Wales), where Carl's and my second great grandparents, John and Esther (Meredith) Bartram, lived and we also checked out the church where they were married. It got me thinking that we must be able to find their marriage records somewhere. Sure enough, the UK General Records Office (GRO) was my ticket to locating not only John and Esther's marriage records, but also birth and death records for several of my English and Welsh ancestors.

The GRO maintains the United Kingdom national archive of all births, marriages and deaths dating back to 1837. Prior to that date, civil and parish records are probably your best bet. The GRO records can be ordered online for about $15.00 each (£9.75), and it will help to know the BMD (Birth Marriage Death) index number for the certificate you are ordering. Luckily the BMD numbers are pretty easy to find at the FreeBMD website, and the ordering instructions on the GRO website are quite simple to follow. 

After I got home from my trip to Wales, I decided to take the plunge and order several certificates from the GRO. It broke my bank account for awhile, but I think it was a worthwhile investment. Here's the official marriage certificate for John and Esther:

The certificate shows that John Bartrem (sp) and Esther Meredith were married on July 12, 1846, in the Church of Welsh Newton, in Hereford County, England. John, a bachelor, was an innkeeper living in Welsh Newton, and Mary, a spinster, had been living in Dixton, Montmouth, Wales. It also shows that John's father was Samuel Bartrem, a labourer, and Esther's father was Joseph Meredith, a sawyer. The marriage was witnessed by John's brother, William, and Esther's sister, Mary. William and Mary eventually married each other!

Here's the Church of Welsh Newton (St. Mary the Virgin) where John and Esther were married, and where Esther's parents, Joseph and Sarah are buried:

Cousin Steven, taking in the view

And, here's the house where they lived and farmed in Llanrothal, Hereford, England:

The current owner of the house estimated that it's probably a few hundred years old. Obviously, the structure has been altered over the years, but the owners have lovingly restored the interior to a state where it shows off some of the original features, such as wood beams and stone fireplaces and alcoves. John and Esther Bartram had a lovely home in a beautiful setting.

Tombstone Tuesday: An Unexpected Cousin In My Own Backyard!

I love cemeteries. I mean, what genealogist DOESN'T love a good cemetery. A lot of my friends (and some of my family) think it's a bit weird and macabre that I like to visit old burial grounds when I'm traveling. But, I think they are wonderful places full of history, stories and, odd as it may sound, life!

Some of my favorite cemeteries (other than where my own people are buried, of course) are the eerie, yet somehow romantic, above-ground crypts in New Orleans, the old, urban graveyards that now house many of our country's founders and patriots in Boston and the small, hidden-away burial grounds along narrow paths in the English and Welsh countryside.

My favorite local cemetery, however, is the 226-acre Mountain View Cemetery nestled in lower hills of Oakland, California. It's just up the hill from me, and I can walk to it from my apartment. It is truly one of the most splendid cemeteries I've ever visited, and it has its own unique history that is just as fascinating as the histories of some of its illustrious inhabitants.

Mountain View Cemetery was established in 1863 and designed by famous landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed Manhattan's Central Park, both UC Berkeley and Stanford Universities and the Midway Plaisance at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, among many other notable parks and projects around the United States.

From the top of Mountain View Cemetery on a rainy day,
looking out toward the San Francisco skyline

The cemetery is a feast for the eyes when it comes to grandiose crypts and headstones that pay tribute to some of California's important historical figures, including Domingo Ghirardelli (of the famous Ghirardelli Chocolate Company), J.A. Folger (founder of Folgers Coffee), noted California architect Julia Morgan and several former California governors, senators and other notable politicians. 

However, Mountain View is also the burial place of nearly 200,000 regular souls who now rest among the beautiful scenery and dozens of winding pathways that attract walkers, bicyclists and picnickers along with those who come to pay tribute to their loved ones. I love meandering along the paths that curve along the gentle hills of this park-like cemetery. According to the cemetery website, "Mountain View is distinguished from other cemeteries by its architect's vision of man and nature and their relationship to each other." And, it's true. It's one of those rare places where you know that you're in the middle of an urban geography, however you're free to shrug off the stress and confines of the city and bask in the nature -- and, on a sunny day, the incredible views -- that Mountain View offers.

The GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) Civil War burial plot at Mountain View Cemetery

So, the title of this post mentions something about a cousin, right? Well, one day last summer, I went out for a hike at Mountain View. Since there are so many paths one can choose, I like to mix it up in order to see new views and explore different burial plots, such as the Jewish section and the Civil War plot. Really, I see something new every time I'm there. So, this one day, I was tooling around a plot where I hadn't spent much time before. I don't know what made me turn to look at this one particular tombstone, but there it was:

My cousin, John Milton Eddy, and family

 I first noticed the surname: Eddy. Hey, I have Eddys in my tree! I looked a little closer, and this guy, John Milton Eddy (1800-1862), was born in Middleboro, Massachusetts. Hey, that's where my original Pilgrim, Samuel Eddy, settled in the 1630s! I guessed that this had to be a long-lost relative, so I snapped the above photo and went home to do a little sleuthing. Turns out, John Milton Eddy is my 3rd cousin, 7 times removed (thanks to Ancestry.com for doing that bit of calculation for me). John and I are both descended from my 10th great grandparents, Samuel Eddy and Elizabeth Savory, who arrived at Plymouth Harbor on the Handmaid on October 29, 1630.

Death notice in the Sacramento Daily Union
for Jane Caroline "Carrie" Eddy

Perhaps, you may have noticed that John Milton and his daughter, Jane Caroline Eddy, died in Eureka, California. So, why are they buried 275 miles south of there, in Oakland? I was curious about that, so I went to the cemetery office and asked to see the burial records. (On a side note, the volunteer at the office was a little incredulous when she asked what was my relationship to the deceased and I answered, "He's my 3rd cousin, 7 times removed!") After a bit of persuading, she finally brought out some papers, including several pieces of correspondence regarding the plot, and made copies for me. It turns out, John and his wife, Olive Sanders Eddy, journeyed from Massachusetts to California sometime between 1841 (when youngest daughter, Jane Caroline, was born in Boston) and 1850, likely during the Gold Rush period. Jane, nicknamed "Carrie", died from influenza at the very young age of 16 in 1857. John Milton died just five years later, also in Eureka. Olive later went to live in San Francisco with her granddaughter, Lizzie Eddy Atkinson (whose mother, Eliza, was another of John and Olive's daughters) and Lizzie's husband, David Watt Horsburgh. When Olive died after a long illness, in 1885, David and Lizzie purchased the plot at Mountain View and made arrangements for John and Jane's remains to be moved from Eureka to finally rest with Olive in Oakland. The other two people listed on the gravestone are Martin White (1826-1901), who appears to be a family member or close friend (and shows up on the 1850 US census with them), and Antoinette Magruder Stone (1830-1916), who was a "very old friend of family." From David Horsburgh's correspondence with the cemetery officials, it seems that several others are buried in the plot, including several members of a Wood family, who seem to be connected with John and Olive's daughter, Eliza.

I'm still learning more about John Milton Eddy and his family who were early pioneers in California. I want to know what drew him to California? How did he die? What kind of man was this distant cousin of mine? Are there any portraits of them??? As I discover more tidbits about John and his family, I'll be sure to report them here. Meanwhile, I now have a reason, other than the brisk exercise and stunning views, to walk around Mountain View Cemetery: I have family to visit!

Talented Tuesday: Mom, Budding Author At Age 10

I think I mentioned last week that I've recently subscribed to NewspaperArchive, an online repository of newspapers from around the US and across the globe that claims to span the years from 1607 to the present. Old newspapers are a great place to find all sorts of information about our ancestors and how they may have lived, especially if they came from small towns where the newspapers covered even the smallest events. While online subscription services may make it easier to find articles in certain publications, you don't necessarily need to pay good money. I've discovered old stories in my own hometown paper just by going to its website and searching the archives. 

I've found a crazy amount of newspaper articles about my family members in the last week while messing around in NewspaperArchive, particularly articles that covered my Grandpa John and Uncle Dutch's rodeo competitions in California. In Kansas, there are decades worth of mentions in the society pages of the Emporia Gazette about the comings and goings of my Bartram relatives (and we thought there was no privacy on the internet...).

One big surprise, though, came to me in the Sunday, June 2, 1957, edition of the Oakland Tribune in Oakland, California. There, at the top of the page, was a prize-winning story by little 10-year-old (actually 11, by the time that edition ran) Becky Bartram, about her beloved dog, Mitzi.

It didn't take long for me to realize that this talented writer was my MOM! I posted the story on her Facebook page the other night, and she was so surprised to see it. She didn't even remember writing this story. I've always known that Mitzi was an important part of my mom's childhood, because she still talks about her to this day. I've also always known that Mom was a good writer, and I hope that rubbed off a little bit on me!

It's a bit difficult to read the story in the above image, so here's the text:

A Story of Mitzi, Beloved Pet
Becky Bartram, 10 Years
Prize Winner 

I got Mitzi four years ago when I was six years old. She is an Australian shepherd. She was just a puppy then. She has been with our family ever since. She is a well-behaved dog. She is clean and she likes everyone. She comes in the house at night and in the daytime. She has had two litters of pups. 

One dog out of the first litter looks just like her. She likes to play with me. One of her favorite games is tug-of-war. We use a rope to play. She puts the rope in her mouth and I put it in my hand. We try to see who ends up with the rope. She always does. Mitzi likes to ride in the car with my family. Mitzi is a very pretty dog. 

Everyone likes her, especially me. Our family treats her like one of us, and she is. Mitzi is black with a tannish-brown face. She is one foot, eight inches tall. 

Mitzi never comes into the house with dirty feet. She lies on the rug and licks her feet. We give her a bath about three times a year. 

She is a smart dog. In the morning when she wants to get in and Daddy is at work, she barks at the bedroom window and I let her in. She likes to lie on the lawn with me in the summertime. She is a very good cow dog. I will always lover her as long as I live. 

I'm sure I have a photo of my mom and Mitzi somewhere, but I can't seem to find it now. Until I locate that, here's another very sweet picture of her at play!

Little Becky Bartram on her tricycle!

Treasure Chest Thursday: Grandpa John's 1939 Treasure Island World's Fair Rodeo Program

I've been looking for this for AGES!!! It's a program and day schedule for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition (aka World's Fair) World's Championship Rodeo at Treasure Island, San Francisco. But that's not all: the day schedule for Saturday night, May 13, 1939, lists my Grandpa John Bartram along with several of his friends!

I always knew that Grandpa and his brother, Dutch, rode in the World's Fair rodeo that year. He told us lots of stories about his rodeo adventures, and we have this photo of him riding in one of the World's Fair parades. But definitive and documented proof that he actually competed in any of the events had always eluded me.

Well, eBay to the rescue! Every now and then, I head over to eBay and search for books or other ephemera that might be related to my ancestors (you'd be surprised how many of my kin made it into various historical books). A couple of months ago, I got it into my head to search for "Treasure Island 1939 rodeo" and up popped both the rodeo program and the schedule for one of the days that Grandpa John and his friends competed. Of course, I snapped them up immediately!

In addition to listing Grandpa competing in the Brahma Bull riding competition, the day program also lists Uncle Dutch as one of the competitors for the whole event. There were several other exciting rodeo attractions on night of May 13, including the famous rodeo trick rider, actor and stuntman, Montie Montana, as well as rodeo clown and bullfighter, Homer Holcomb, and his Brahma Bull Chariot.

To add to my delight, my eBay seller lives in San Francisco, and has offered to keep an eye out for any other Treasure Island rodeo ephemera for me. I *wish* the program still cost only 25 cents, but I feel like I got a bargain just by finding this actual treasure!

Grandpa John, riding bronc in another rodeo

I was so excited to finally put this documentation with Grandpa's World's Fair parade photo. I was even more happy to show it to my mom and the rest of Grandpa's family.

Since coming across this amazing find, I've been digging even deeper for more information on Grandpa John's rodeo experience at Treasure Island. I subscribe to a couple of different online newspaper archives, including NewspaperArchive, and have now found further evidence of Grandpa competing in the rodeo, and being INJURED. Here's an article from the May 20, 1939, Oakland Tribune that mentions Grandpa John being gored behind the ear by the very bull he was riding, and being saved from further injury (or worse!) by the aforementioned rodeo clown, Homer Holcomb. Wow!

So, what's the lesson here? I think it's to not just rely on Ancestry.com and Google searches and other more obvious places to find documentation about our ancestors' lives. Start searching in more unlikely places like eBay, or even your local antique store. You never know what you're going to find!

Sentimental Sunday: My First Dog, Gow

Circa 1966

I was looking through some old photos last night and found some of my very first dog, Gow. Mom and Dad got Gow, a Border Collie, when I was a baby, and he was quite a dog. He had such a sweet personality, and was good with us kids. I loved that puppy so much that I named a succession of stuffed dogs after my own Gow. I still have one of my ratty, old stuffed Gow dogs from when I was a toddler, and it sits at the foot of my bed as a reminder of my old furry friend.

Like most Border Collies, Gow was smart as a whip, and talented, too. One of his favorite tricks was to ride our tricycle. It wasn't a trick we taught him, either. He just figured it out on his own. He'd put his front paws on the back of the trike, push with this back legs and steer with his nose. Eventually, as I recall, that tricycle pretty much became his own toy.

Our talented Gow

Sadly, Gowie didn't stay with us for long. We lived out in the country, and one night, when I was five or six years old, he was hit by a car on the road outside our house. That was such a sad time for us all, but Gow marked the beginning of our family's love of Border Collies.

My mom now has the sweetest Border Collie you'll ever know, Blaise, and we've been lucky to have her in our lives for 13 years.

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday: Joe Bartram Family in Kansas

Here's a photo of my great grandparents, Joseph and Alice (Veale) Bartram and a small part of their very large family (including my maternal Grandpa John Bartram):

This was sent to me by my cousin, Reva. Her great grandfather, Arthur Bartram, is the young man on the right, standing behind the seated older gentleman. Arthur was the nephew of my great grandfather, Joseph Bartram, who came from Herefordshire, England (just on the border with Monmouthshire, Wales), in 1883. Arthur was sent to live with Joseph in 1886, at around the same time his mother, Louisa, was re-marrying (we understand that Arthur's dad may have been a horse jockey who died before he was born).

While I can't verify the identities of everyone in this photo, here's what I think: The handsome, mustachioed man standing in the rear is certainly Joseph Bartram, and I believe that the woman in the dark skirt standing to his right is my great grandmother, Alice A. Veale Bartram. I *think* that the older woman sitting on the left is Alice's mother, Margaret Harriman. I have a photo of her as an older woman, and she has the same dour expression on her face. Who the others are, I have no idea. If any of my Kansas or Indiana cousins see this, maybe they'll be able to help ID some of our kin!

Here's how I'm descended from Joseph Bartram and Alice A. Veale:

1. Joseph Bartram (Great Grandfather)
born 23 Jun 1860 in Dixton, Monmouthshire, Wales
immigrated to Kansas, USA, in 1881 
married Alice A. Veale (1872-1954) on 31 Jul 1891 in Topeka, Shawnee,  Kansas
died 4 Feb 1930 in Clear Lake, Lake, California 

Alice A. Veale (Great Grandmother)
born 26 Nov 1872 in Washington County, Indiana
died 27 Sep 1954 in Clear Lake, Lake County, California

Confirmed children with Alice A. Veale 
1. Roy Bartram (1891-1896)
2. Reva Bartram (1893-1952)
3. Ruth E. Bartram (1895-1988)
4. Robert Adam Bartram (1897-1983)
5. Ralph Bartram (1899-1998)
6. Helen Bartram (1900-1994)
7. Joseph L. Bartram (1902-1998)
8. George Bartram (1904-1972)
9. Florence Irene Bartram (1905-1999) 
10. Raymond "Dutch" Bartram (1907-1954)
11. Eunice Fay Bartram (1909-2009)

12. John Bartram (1911-1987)

13. Grace Bartram (1913-1975)
14. Mildred Lucille Bartram (1915-1990)
15. Lorna C. Bartram (1916-2003)

2. John Bartram (Grandfather)
born 4 Apr 1911 in Allen, Wabaunsee, Kansas
married Donna M. Madsen (1919-1966) on 26 Mar 1938 in Reno, Washoe, Nevada
died 15 Aug 1987 in Tracy, San Joaquin, California 

Confirmed children with Donna M. Madsen
1. Clinton James Bartram (1938-2001)
2. Brenda Rae Bartram (living)

3. Rebecca Elizabeth Bartram (living)

4. Clay John Bartram (living)

3. Rebecca Elizabeth Bartram (Mom)
living
married William Lee Brittain (1942-2003) on 12 Sep 1964 in Reno, Washoe, Nevada 

Confirmed children with William Lee Brittain
1. Wendy Lee Brittain (me)
2. Cynthia Lynn Brittain (living)

Tuesday's Tip: Set Out Some Cousin Bait

With Steven and Carl in Wales

Last summer, I wrote about my fantastic trip to Cardiff to meet my cousins, Steven and Carl, and explore my roots around the border of Wales and Herefordshire, England. I still think of that amazing adventure often, and how it came to be.

It all started with private Facebook message a couple of years earlier from a man saying that he thought we might be related. Apparently, he found my information on a message board where I had posted looking for information on my Bartram family in England and Wales. I immediately replied to Steven that we certainly are related: we are both descended from my great great grandparents, John Bartram and Esther Meredith. Turns out message boards are a great place to lay some cousin bait...

During the last few years, I've received several such messages from people who have stumbled across my public tree on Ancestry.com, unearthed old message board posts with pleas from me to anyone who might have needed information, or found this blog via a random, or well-thought-out, Google search. Some of the people who have contacted me have turned out to not be related at all, but I'm amazed at the number of actual cousins -- LIVE cousins -- with whom I've connected and shared both information and adventures. And, all because they had the hunch, the whim, the guts, to send me a note saying, "I think we might be related...".

In addition to Steven and Carl in Wales, here are some of the cousins I've nabbed with my virtual bait (or, have they nabbed me?):

Sarah Meredith

• Michelle, who shares with me our great great grandparents, William Calhoun Hunt and George Frances Ann Purser, and who actually got know to my very own beloved Grandma Edith (Hunt) Brittain when she'd travel to Oklahoma to visit her cousin (and Michelle's grandpa), Fritz. Michelle was my first cousin to take the Ancestry bait about four years ago, and I'm now Facebook friends with her, her sisters, and a few other welcoming Oklahoma cousins. 
• Alan, who found me last year right here on this blog, and who shares with me TWO sets of third great grandparents: Samuel and Harriett (Boast) Bartram from Kelsale, Suffolk, England, and Samuel and Sarah Meredith from Monmouthshire, Wales. That means that we're double fourth cousins. The Bartram sons (John and William) moved from Suffolk to Wales in the 1840s and married Meredith sisters (Esther and Mary). Alan now lives in Canada, and I've had the great pleasure of video Skyping with him as well as several other of my Canadian cousins. He's shared some fantastic information with me about our ancestors, including a photo of our great great great grandmother, Sarah Meredith.
  
• 

  Leah and her brother, George, with
  my cousins, Debbie and Wanda

  Leah, who also found my blog and is a distant cousin via my Harriman and Veale line. The two of us had to work to figure out just how we were related because the Harrimans and Veales also stuck close to each other (lots of brothers marrying sisters from the other family), and they had the annoying habit of recycling first names: Clara, George, Elmer, George Elmer -- you get the idea. As it turned out, Leah also knew a couple of my mom's first cousins in Kansas and was looking to reconnect with them. I was happy to oblige, and when they got together later that year, they sent photos of their fun day as well as of my great great grandparents' graves and even a wonderful photo of my great great grandmother Margaret Harriman Veale!
  
  
• Bob, who found my tree on Ancestry.com and shares with Alan and me Samuel and Harriet Boast as our third great grandparents. It turns out Bob lives in Reno, NV, which isn't all that far from Oakland, CA. I went up to Reno one weekend this past October to work on President Obama's re-election campaign, and Bob graciously invited my friends and me to meet him at his home. We had so much fun with him and his roommates that evening. It's amazing how quickly we connected with each other over our shared family ties. We're still sharing information and pictures with each other (I see three new emails from him in my inbox right now), and I can't wait for our next visit!
  

  

  With my cousin, Bob, in Reno!

• Reva, who's great grandfather, Arthur Bartram, was the nephew of my great grandfather, Joseph Bartram. Arthur was the oldest son of Joseph's oldest sister, Louisa, who was also the great grandmother of my Welsh cousin, Carl, and the great great grandmother of Carl's son, Steven (from my Cardiff trip, above). It really is a small world! Reva emailed me the first photos of my great Grandpa Joseph that I had ever seen, and I'll always treasure those. We're also both trying to solve the mystery of the story about how Joseph's (and Louisa's) father, John Bartram, may have died at sea. 
• Jennifer, my fifth cousin on my Brittain line, is a cousin that I actually reached out to in my quest to document my Revolutionary War patriot, Nathaniel Brittain, for my DAR application. She's the cousin who originally inspired me to write this blog. Jennifer writes two excellent blogs that you should visit right now: Climbing My Family Tree (excellent cousin bait!) and Sergeant Major Mom. 
• Susan is a first cousin who was looking for information about her mom's biological father, and found him right here on this blog. I don't want to spoil the surprises in this very personal story, so look for it in another blog post (probably later this week).

And, there's more where that came from! All because I laid out a bit of "bait" -- in the form of information and queries -- on the internet. 

So, why would you want to set out your own cousin bait? Because getting to know live cousins not only helps us to flesh out the details and solve the mysteries of our ancestors, but it lets us really feel like we are part of a larger world family. It inspires us to think about our immediate family as well as our ancestors in new ways. It connects us in ways that we could never imagine, no matter how far apart we might live. 

So, my challenge to all you family historians out there: take a chance and reach out to someone who just might be one of your distant cousins. Comment on a blog post that you found interesting. Post a burning question on a family search message board. Send a message to a potential distant cousin via Ancestry. Start your own blog about your family research. Strike up a conversation! You never know who might be able to help you break through a brick wall in your research. And, more importantly, you might meet some really cool cousins that also end up being life-long friends. =)

New Years Resolution: Get This Blog Started Up Again!

Happy New Year! I know, I've been horribly remiss about keeping my little blog up-to-date over the last year or so. I keep telling myself that I need to get writing again, but something else always seems to come up to distract me (too tired from work, too tired from social life, my cat keeps sitting on my laptop, etc.). It's not that I don't enjoy writing blog posts about genealogy and my own fascinating (well, to me, anyway) family. I've even managed to keep up with my research. I just seemed to lose my writing mojo.


So, I've decided to get myself in gear and bring this baby back to life again.

Here is my belated 2013 New Years Resolution: 

Write at least one Shaking Leaves blog post per week this year.

Knowing me, I'll write even more once I get my mojo back. After all, this resolution is more fun and a heck of a lot easier than, say, losing a gajillion pounds (that's another story, and I'm working on it, too...)!

A LOT has happened in the last year or so, and I'm excited to share it with you. Over the next few months, I'll tell you all about stuff like:

• Meeting more cousins than I even knew I had
• Uncovering all sorts of fun documents that shed light on my ancestry
• Fun with AncestryDNA 
• Discovering a Pilgrim cousin right in my own backyard
• Finding my mom's half sister (really!)

I hope you'll all find these stories as interesting as I do, and I always look forward to hearing from you via email or the comments section, whether you're related to me, or not. 

Now, I'm off to write a new post for tomorrow. I'm on a roll!!

Happy 2013!

Hello, Old Blog!!

Carl Thomas, Steven Thomas and me at our ancestors'
farm in Herefordshire, England

It's been quite a while since I've been here, and I'm sorry to leave everyone hanging for so long. I see from my last post that I was getting ready to move from San Francisco to Oakland at the end of last August. That was just one of the life changes that was happening with me at that time and, it seems that with everything going on, my heart wasn't really into genealogy for, well, nearly a year.




Lately, I've been digging around in my roots again and I've started to find solving all those family history mysteries interesting again. 

But, you know what I've discovered most recently? Searching for dead people is just part of the process, and not nearly as much fun as finding your living kin! 

I write this while sitting on a plane home from London. I'm fortunate to work for a company that occasionally flies me there for business, and I try to take advantage of the opportunity to stay over and do a little exploring while I'm in the area. This time, I had the bright idea to explore my Welsh roots.

Steven and me, hamming it
up the oldest pub in Cardiff, Wales

Let me back up a bit. About three and half years ago, I was approached on Facebook by a man telling me that he lives in Cardiff, Wales,and he thought we might be related on my Bartram side. He shared his history with me and, lo and behold, we're third cousins once removed. His great great grandmother, Louisa Bartram, was the oldest sister of my great grandfather, Joseph Bartram, who was born just north of Cardiff in 1860 and immigrated to Kansas from the UK in 1883. How exciting to find a living cousin on the Internet, and an international one, to boot! Steven and I became Facebook friends, and have had fun keeping up with each other over the past few years. We discovered that we're close in age, we share similar political and religious views and, more importantly, a love of music, particularly David Bowie and The Clash (which is playing in my earbuds as I type).


Well, when I found out I was going to be in London for a business trip this week, I jumped at the chance to see if Steven would be up for meeting in person. He was! 

So, Wednesday morning, I woke up well before my alarm clock and caught a train from Paddington Station to Cardiff, Wales, to meet Steven and his dad, my third cousin, Carl. Can you imagine my excitement as I walked toward the station exit and saw them waiting for me?? I recognized them immediately from all the Facebook photos we've shared over the years. I think we were all a little bit nervous about meeting for the first time, but our nerves quickly dissolved with the first big hug, and we were soon talking nonstop: about our lives, about our shared family history and about our plans for the next two days!

Steven and his dad, Carl, in front of the keep at Cardiff Castle.
We'd just climbed to the top.

Monmouth, Wales

Steven and Carl graciously indulged me in first doing a little touristy stuff: I couldn't leave without seeing Cardiff Castle! We spent the rest of the afternoon chatting over coffee and taking in a museum exhibit about early Cardiff history. I honestly don't remember anything I saw there because I was having too much fun getting to know my cousins. Steven and I capped off the day with a few pints -- and lots of laughing -- at the oldest pub in Cardiff. It felt as if we were old friends who hadn't seen each other in a long while and had a lot of catching up to do.

The next morning, the three of us met up to start on a real adventure. Carl drove us up to Monmouth in Monmouthshire County, along the Welsh/English border. This was where my great grandfather, Joseph Bartram, father of my beloved Grandpa John, was born in 1860. It's an adorable town that was settled along the Monnow River, and we took a nice stroll up and down it's main street before heading up the road to explore more of our history.

Carl and me at St. Mary's the Virgin
Church in Welsh Newton,
Herefordshire, England

Graveyard at St. Mary's Church 

The next stop along our picturesque drive (think rolling green hills dotted with small villages and farms, and lots of sheep and cattle grazing in the verdant fields) was St. Mary the Virgin church in Welsh Newton, Herefordshire, England -- just a couple of miles over the border from Wales. This is the church where Joseph and Louisa's parents, John Bartram and Esther Meredith, were married in 1846. St. Mary's is an ancient Norman-style church and has the distinction of being one of the few English churches with a saint buried in it's courtyard. Welsh Newton is also the village where John was a publican (pub keeper) when he and Esther were first married.  We thought Esther might have been buried in the graveyard that surrounds the church, so we asked a woman who appeared to be working there. Turns out they are in the midst of conducting a cemetery inventory, and she was happy to show us the records! Well, Esther doesn't appear to be there, but the records show her parents, Joseph and Sarah Meredith, buried in the large plot just in front of the church entrance. Of course, that plot hasn't yet been inventoried, but we were welcome to traipse through the graveyard to see if we could find them. There are a lot of really old graves there, and some of the markers are impossible to read. Sadly, we didn't find the exact spot where Joseph and Sarah are resting. A good genealogist doesn't give up, though, and I'm hoping the church staff will eventually find them in the plot and send us the coordinates (and maybe a photo).

Entry gate at Wern Farm

Our next stop was just a few yards away, in Llanrothal, Herefordshire, England. This is where the Wern Farm sits, and where John and Esther Bartram's family farmed and raised Hereford cattle for a time in the 1870s and 1880s. Steven often drives by the farm during the course of his work, and he had the foresight to ring up the owners to see if they might allow us to come and take a closer look at our ancestors' old home. They very graciously invited us over and, not only did we get a closer look at the outside of the house and out buildings, but we even got to tour the inside of John and Esther's home! What an amazing treat!! The current owner, also named John, and his wife have lovingly remodeled what had been (at least on the inside) a slightly crumbling abode. They moved some walls, doors and stairs around to make the house more livable, but they also restored original oak beams and beautiful brick fireplaces and alcoves that had been hidden for years behind plaster. I can't fully describe the experience of standing in my great great grandparents' home, and the feelings that evoked, but I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it.

With my third cousin, Carl Thomas, at Wern Farm

After spending a good long time at Wern Farm, we headed back over the hill to enjoy some fish and chips while sitting on a bench on the side of the Monnow River. If you know me at all, you know that it's not a stretch to say that I'm not much of a fish person. You'll still never catch me eating salmon, but I'm now a fan of the fried cod in Monmouth, Wales! Damn, that was good. The beautiful scenery and good company made it even better.

Tintern Abbey

Next up, Steven had the brilliant idea to show me Tintern Abbey, about a 30-minute drive along the Wye River (which meets up with the Monnow River just outside of Monmouth. Tintern Abbey was founded in 1131, but was ultimately surrendered to King Henry VIII in 1536, and fell into ruins over the centuries. It's quite a spectacular site. We got in a little shopping at the gift store, and I think the shopkeeper must have thought he stuck gold when I got to the counter with my large stash. 

After a cup of tea, we wound up our trip with a stop in Chepstow to view the outside of the castle there, and spend a bit more cash in their gift shop. We then made the drive back into Cardiff, which was a little bittersweet for me. I had been having such an amazing time with my family, Steven and Carl, exploring our roots together and really getting to know each other, and I wasn't ready for it to end. When they dropped me off at the hotel after a long and fantastic day, I think we were all a bit sad to leave each other. 

With Cousin Steven, traipsing
through the graves at St. Mary's.

I can't begin to tell you what this trip has meant to me. Yes, I had the opportunity to walk where my Bartram and Meredith ancestors walked and get a small, personal glimpse into their lives. But, more importantly, I got to forge strong bonds with some of my own living family. We may be third (and once removed) cousins, but we are family and I think they'd agree that we immediately felt that tie to one another. There, I'm getting goosebumps again thinking about it... 

So, what's next? Well, I touch down in about five hours, and I can't wait to get home, call my mom and sister, pet my cat and add pictures to all these words so I can share them with you all. I'll also send a Facebook note to Steven to let him know I got home ok and send hugs to him and the rest of my Welsh clan. And, I'll bug him to get his passport in order so he and Carl can come visit me and the rest of their American Bartram cousins soon. Oh, what a family reunion that will be!

Meanwhile, thanks again to Steven and Carl for showing me such hospitality and genuine love. I do plan to go back to Wales to visit them and meet the rest of the family, including Steven's siblings, Simon (aka Sid), Martin and Sarah, his mum and his son, Steve. I can't wait for the next adventure!! (goosebumps...)

My cousins, Carl and Steven, looking
out at the Monnow River in Monmouth, Wales