Read to the bottom for How to Use this Blog . I have been exploring genealogy since I was little, listening to all the stories told by Aunts Connie and Helena, Cousins Ann and Howie and Maurietta, Uncles Leonard and Arthur. There were m ore dead people in the stories than live ones, and they were lots more fun. This was way before it was anyone's hobby, when I was the only one who was interested. Sneaking into the Archives underage and running around graveyards. I was lost to the present, either reading books about Pilgrims or building stories in my head. Always asking, asking, asking. "How is he related to us? Who is their mother? What was her name, and her name, and her name? " While Aunt Anna said, "I don't want to find out anyone was arrested for stealing sheep." Now I find I know more stories about more people than anyone else. And I have more photos of other people's grandparents than anyone else, thanks to a mother who started taking pictures wh...
As I wrote, I heard the voices of my grandmother and her sisters whenever Sarah spoke. (see Rushton Pedigree Chart, Sarah Hall & Jeremiah Rushton Descendant Chart, Sarah Hall Rushton, the Cordwainer's Wife ~ Chapter One, Revolutionary Cowboy in New York ~ Jeremiah Rushton Stole for King and Country Parts One and Two) In Chapter One, we met Sarah Rushton on her land grant in Westchester, Nova Scotia, walking her favorite path with her daughter Elizabeth and grandchildren. Sarah, her husband Jeremiah, and his family had run a successful cordwaining business in New York City during the Revolutionary War, earning good silver money serving thousands of people jammed into a city under occupation. When peace came and Jeremiah's regiment was disbanded, the Loyalist family faced exile. Elizabeth, fretting over her own husband's plans to move the family to Upper Canada, challenged her mother: it wasn't Sarah's choice to leave New York, she said. Danger forced her. The S...