Grandma's Granny's Family Album

 For Generation 10, I sent the Historian these pages of the Rushton Family Bible.   Generation 10 is Phoebe Esther Rushton Spence's parents, Hannah Susan West Rushton and Thomas R. Rushton. (see Spence, Rushton, and West Pedigree charts) I wrote:   Are they legible enough?  I am not sure what to try if they are not.  I am afraid to take the plastic off them, and I am afraid to scan them, but I can give either one a try. Hannah Susan West Rushton's birthdate is written in pen as 1838.  Then someone drew a 2 over the 8 in pencil.  It is hard to see. The Bible was the most exciting find ever, and my mother and I pored over the pages for days.  When we started, we didn't know who anybody was, just about, making it so mysterious and frustrating.  What good is a family Bible if you don't know who the people are???  My grandmother Bessie didn't know that her grandmother Susan's first name was Hannah, so that was confusing at first....

 Next step!    I sent in my documentation for Generations 14 through 11, since I have those documents pretty readily available.  (see Sulzbach and Spence Pedigree charts) I have now heard back from the Mayflower Society's Assistant Historian with her evaluation.   Any records newer than 1900 have very strict guidelines.  Each person has to have birth, marriage, and death certificates, and their spouse does too.   And the records have to give their parents' names.  Urggh.   Generation 13 - Anne Augusta Robertson Sulzbach & Spouse No good!   No parents' names, even tho their parents' names are clearly listed on all their other documents.  Doesn't the Mayflower Society know how pathetically sparse New York City documents are? Now I have to send for a New York City marriage certificate with parents' names, if there even is one.  How long do you think that will take, with the Health Dept overcome with COVID? All the fo...

A baby named Johann Georg Richters was baptized on 10 August 1759, in Wechmar, a town in what is today Thuringia, Germany, but then was part of the German staat Sachsen (Saxony).  He was only one day old.  His parents were Johann Gottfried Richters and Barbara Christina Hanwin Richters.  I think this baby is our Original Rector Ancestor in North America, Franz Georg Richter. (for Part 1,  see The First Rector - The Search Begins at https://grandmasgrannysfamilyalbum.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-first-rector-search-begins.html) (for Part 2, see The First Rector Land Grant - Part 2 at https://grandmasgrannysfamilyalbum.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-first-rector-land-grant-part-2.html) Six years later, he had a sister named Catharina Eleonora. This sister may have been the first Ellen/Ellenor/Ella in our family, and she is why I really like this family to be ours.  I have never seen another German with the name Eleonora.  (see Spence Pedigree Chart).   the vi...

Remember from Part 1, we are looking for the First Rector in Nova Scotia, or the father of my foremother Ellenor Rector Spence, who I hope is the same person (see Spence Pedigree Chart) .  As we left our last episode, https://grandmasgrannysfamilyalbum.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-first-rector-search-begins.html, we had just hit the jackpot! Crown Land Grant Map If all those Samuels are named after the first Spence man I can find, and all the Roberts are named after Ellenor's possible brother, and all the Reubens are named after the "ugliest, meanest, bad-tempered man that God ever gave breath to," then who are all the George Francises named after?  Surely, the First Rector in Nova Scotia - the Original - the Founding Father? So I was not at all surprised when the jackpot, a land grant petition, was signed by the mark of George Rector. The petition is made to His Excellency Sir George Prevost Baronet, Lieutenant Governor and Commander in chief in and over His Majestys Provinc...

 If you listen to any Spence stories or look at any Spence documents (see Spence Pedigree Chart) , there are 3 things that stick out after a while: 1) The Spences and Rectors intermarry A LOT 2) There are a lot of Reuben Spences and Reuben Rectors 3) There are a lot of George Francis Spences and George Francis Rectors I can hear Aunt Anna talk over and over about "Fred Rector, Fred Rector, Fred Rector."  The man was never Fred.  He was always Fred Rector.  Less often, there was Jim Rector, his brother.  Fred Rector moved to Australia.  Somebody there corresponded with my grandmother Bessie, and we got thin blue airmail postmarked Tasmania with kiwi stamps.  My mother visited his children, Carl and Betty.                                   It turns out that Fred and Jim Rector grew up on Aberdeen Street in Springhill, Nova Scotia, affectionately known as Spence's Is...

Did you think the story of Alexandra eloping to marry outside of her religion and then disappearing was interesting?  Or did you prefer Amelia's son Benjamin, who married a woman 40 years younger and promptly died, leaving a 20-something in affluent Manhattan during the Depression who spent 70 years as a widow? Just wait till you hear the story of Josephine.   Are these my grandmother Arabella's snobby sisters about 1910? (see Sulzbach Pedigree Chart) Do you think this describes Josephine on the right? Recap :  My cousin Ann Smith told me the story of how our grandmother, Arabella Katherine Zoeller Sulzbach, was looked down on by her sisters because her husband, our grandfather Jacob Sulzbach, silk factory owner, didn't make as much money as their husbands.  We have decided that Amelia was a snob and Alexandra wasn't, and that leaves us to examine Josephine, Annie, and Kate. I found Kate in 1892 living with Arabella, helping take care of the kids.  I hadn't noti...