Exploring the Past to Improve the Future
Week 9: #52 Ancestors – Females By Eilene Lyon I’ve written briefly about my great-grandmother, Mabel Pearl (Cutting) Halse, in relation to her husband and children. It’s a case of having a lot of photographs, but not really knowing her. Unlike her mother-in-law, Lucy Halse, Mabel didn’t get her name in the papers or history... Continue Reading →
Week 6: #52 Ancestors – Maps By Eilene Lyon Back in the late 1870s and early 1880s, promoters encouraged people to move to Dakota Territory. Naturally, land speculators played up the rich farmland and other selling points, not necessarily squaring with reality. My father was born in South Dakota, though he grew up in Oregon.... Continue Reading →
Week 2: #52 Ancestors – Family Legend By Eilene Lyon My grandmother, Clare (Davis) Smith, left this typewritten note regarding her paternal ancestors. I want to learn more about the first one, but I’m going to address them all, beginning at the bottom. (Typos have been corrected.)“The Davis family moved from Missouri to Texas Ridge,... Continue Reading →
Week 32: #52 Ancestors – Small By Eilene Lyon The first thing the prompt brought to mind is this photograph I received at a family reunion last year. It isn’t the only image of Elmer Jens Davis, but it is particularly striking. He’s the short man standing in front on the right. Behind him is... Continue Reading →
Week 17: #52 Ancestors – Land By Eilene Lyon I’ve written about my great-grandmother’s homestead in Idaho in earlier posts. Clara Pearl Ransom moved to Moscow, Idaho, when she was still in her teen years. Her older brother, Arthur L. Ransom, encouraged her to take up a homestead claim in the Clearwater region when she... Continue Reading →
Week 27: #52 Ancestors – Independent Perhaps it’s a bit perverse to write about the granddaughter of a Loyalist for this prompt, but I greatly admire my 3rd-great-grandmother, Mary Paulina Rowley Cutting. Widowed by the age of 41, Mary never remarried. Though she certainly had assistance at times, she clearly was an independent woman. Mary... Continue Reading →
By Eilene Lyon Genealogy is about discovery: discovering your ancestors, discovering history, discovering your cultural identity, discovering new family. Anticipating a uniting of the Davis clan in Latah County, Idaho, in late June, I undertook a special project. Though almost everyone gathering in Moscow was in some way connected to Melville C. and Sarah R.... Continue Reading →
Week 20: #52 Ancestors – Nature By Eilene Lyon You’ve met my great-grandmother, Clara Ransom Davis in several earlier posts. Clara moved to Idaho as a teen and attended Moscow High School, becoming a teacher at 16, while still in school herself. She attended the University of Idaho, and graduated with the third class in... Continue Reading →
Week 14: #52 Ancestors – Brick Wall By Eilene Lyon Background For this project, I decided to write about my 4th great-grandparents, Samuel and Eliza Drake of Killyleagh, County Down, Northern Ireland. It turned mammoth, so I’ve split it into three parts. I long ago determined that these are the parents of Eliza Jane Halse... Continue Reading →
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