The Other Side of the Family: Canada Bound!

Are you as fascinated as I am with the way families connect?  The other side of my family had to migrate from Canada down to Minnesota and into Washington State in order to connect with this Goss family I have featured in this genealogical travel blog!

The old Goss family that I emphasized in this blog is connected to me through my father's mother's side of the family and through his grandmother Amarilla Barclay Dawes Urton. 

Yes, Amarilla was married three times.  Her first husband George Angus Barclay was murdered in 1898.  So she remarried to a J.G. Dawes and that ended in divorce.  About 10 year later she married again to a George Urton and they were together for the remainder of their lives.  Amarilla and her life are featured in in the following blog The Barclay's of Pine River. It is starting to get very interesting as I enter the 1890's for Pine River, Minnesota!!  You learn about Amarilla and George and more in this blog:

 

The Barclay's of Pine River: http://barclayspineriver.wordpress.com/

 

Amarilla's maiden name was Spracklin.  Her parents were Daniel D. Spracklin and Elizabeth Keller.  Daniel's father was John Andrews Spracklin and he married Lydia Goss the daughter of Solomon Goss and Olive (Scott) Goss in Washington County, Ohio in 1819 and they settled in Knox County, Ohio on land her father had purchased in 1802.   I am writing about the siblings of Lydia in the blog: Solomon Goss of Fearing Twp. in Ohio http://sgossfamily.wordpress.com/ 

 

Amarilla and George had Grace and she married Ronald S. McDonald in secret in September 1898 in Hudson, Wisconsin about a month before her father George was murdered!!  Grace and Ronald lived in Minnesota where my Dad was born.   These two people are my grandparents.

 

Actually, I started with the MacDonald/McDonald/McDonell/Macdonell side of my family when I began researching because that is what I knew the best. Back in 1999, Canada online was very young and not like it is today.  They have come a long way and are amazing!

Some of Ronald and Grace's children - My Dad is on the right!

 

This Spring of 2012, I am off to Ontario and Quebec to learn more about the origins of my great grandfather Archibald McDonell and my great grandmother Mary McDonell's family. Yes, they were both McDonell's. 

 

I will also be learning more about the Boardmans and the Brown side of my family, my mother's side!  As you can see I have deep roots in Canada. 

If you have family connections to Ontario or Quebec join me as I travel along!  I will be following along two great rivers there the Ottawa and the St. Lawrence.  What stories rivers could tell sigh! 

I will be attending the Ontario Genealogical Society Conference in Kingston June 1-3, 2012.  You will find more information at these links.  I will be posting on each of the two blogs below according to the research.  Don't worry I will let you know where to look!

 

My Dad's McDonell roots are featured in this blog The Man Who Lived Airplanes: http://macdonellfamily.wordpress.com/

My mother's Canadian side is featured in this blog The Boardmans and Browns of Winnipeg: http://boardmanbrown.wordpress.com/

 

Come along and see what I learn about Canadian genealogical research!

Massachusetts Meanderings Videos at YouTube!

Well, it has taken awhile and getting caught up on things since completing all my trips this past year.  I finally have been able to prepare and upload the videos of some of the cemeteries I visited when I was in Massachusetts.

Remember I had uploaded a lot of the cemetery photographs I had taken to Picasa Web Albums and I gave that link:  https://picasaweb.google.com/116922332744116783581

Here are the videos I took on eight (8) of those cemeteries.  I was able to get them up and going on YouTube.  They are really overviews and if you want detail go to the photographs and the posts where I wrote about these cemeteries I visited on this blog:  At this time they are not public on YouTube.  I will get around to that later.  I wanted my followers to have first look!!!

1. Palisado Cemetery, Windsor CT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPjRBUP9lXg

  

2.  Evergreen in Winchester, New Hampshire

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtvxZsvIXys&feature=g-upl

3. Burnham Cemetery, Montague, Franklin Co., MA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEJZl9naS_A

4. Springfield Cemetery, Springfield, Hampden Co., Massachusetts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF8Mkjndcv8

5. Middle Cemetery, Lancaster, Worcester Co., MA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAg_wwBI8KY

6. Old Settlers Cemetery, Lancaster, Worcester Co., MA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCz5hrl5CLE

7. Old Common Burial Field, Lancaster, Worcester Co., MA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ogsq1HzKf0

8. Old Indian Cemetery, West Brookfield, Worcester Co., MA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smTSF6RfWYQ

Eventually I will put the video's in a post in the Solomon Goss of Fearing Township in Ohio blog when I write about that part of the Goss history.  It will be awesome!

Enjoy!

Another Trip Completed: Ohio August 16 to September 7, 2011

My trip to Ohio is completed.  It was a big job and I put 1547 miles on the car rental.  Got lost a couple of times or went in the wrong direction but nothing major.  I found Ohio to be lovely, green and lush.  The weather was just fine except for two days of really hot and muggy, then rain from tropical storm Lee.  I felt like I was home except we have more fir and pine trees.  It was a very good trip and I am pleased.

I am in the process of organizing my trip research and files into my giant binder like I did for Massachusetts Meanderings.  I will continue to post on the trip in Ohio at the Solomon Goss of Fearing Township in Ohio Blog http://sgossfamily.wordpress.com/

Once I finish describing my adventures in Ohio and giving the links to archives I will start digging into the genealogy of my Goss, Keller, Spracklin, Delano and associated surnames in more detail on that blog.  I am probably going to be quiet for awhile now and not go on any trips till Spring of 2012.  I frankly need the rest. That trip will be to Michigan and Ontario if I can work it right.  It will cover the MacDonald side of my family.

There are few things I need to do for Massachusetts Meanderings like post my videos of various cemeteries.  That will be an interesting challenge. 

Time to catch up my other blog posts....!

Ohio Is NOW!

I am frantically preparing for Ohio because it is almost here!  AUGGH!

First stop Columbus, Ohio where we find the Ohio Historical Society and the Columbus-Metro Public Library.  Then off to Kenton, Ohio to revisit the Hardin County Genealogical Society and more.  From there to Portage County to pay respects to Ebenezer Goss.  After that the Ohio Genealogical Society in their new home!  Then time spent in the Mount Vernon, Knox and Morrow County area of Ohio to dig into the Kellers, Delanos and Spracklins.  Last, off to Marietta to see what I can learn about Solomon Goss and others!

Come join me at:

Solomon Goss of Fearing Township In Ohio!  This is the correct link!

http://sgossfamily.wordpress.com/

Now where was that deed???

Moving on!

This blog has been a big project. However, the time has come for me to move on.  I feel I have accomplished what I intended. So I am pleased. 



The Connecticut River north of Hatfield, MA

I would like to thank all my followers, seeing your fun icons as been wonderful and I am very touched that you have joined me in this quest of mine.  So this blog is technically completed. I will not be posting to it very much anymore.  It will stay on Blogger for some time and I will refer to it in my other blogs.  I am still getting comments from viewers and that is great.  Any information that others wish to share is welcomed. 
I would like to give special thanks to Barbara Poole of "Life from the Roots" and Heather Rojo of "Nutfield Genealogy" for their support.  Their blogs are awesome!  I would also like to thank another person who is connected with FindAGrave and more.  Thank you for caring! 

I have struggled with this decision.  I had intended to add the Ohio trip that I am planning for August 2011 which is more Goss history and other lines of my family, but...it will just not work and become to large to manage and maybe be a little confusing?

This blog was my traveling in Massachusetts and Connecticut in search of Goss and Barclay history and I think it is best served in that manner.  My husband was a little surprised to see the Carmel added and I defended that with "it has "more" in the title at the end!  He responded ...something about the whole world.  Hmmm... a little indulgence on my part.  HA!

So I am off to create another blog for the time has come to start the on the Goss family and the allied families that married into Goss and vice versa and share what I have and what I know and don't know.  This is going to be another big job and it will include highlights of the trip to Ohio. 
The new blog is:  Solomon Goss of Fearing Township in Ohio  http://sgossfamily.wordpress.com/

WordPress.com is a little different than Blogger.  They do not have icons for followers.  Instead, they have where you can sign up with your email (strictly private) as a widget and I put that on the right side (side bar) of my blog.  They also have comments (like Blogger).  I can tell if you are stopping by with the stats which Blogger has too but with Wordpress they are right there on my dashboard. 

Solomon Goss was a son of Philip and Mary (Kendall) Goss.  The Philip Goss who left Brookfield to go to Simsbury, North Granby, then to Granville and up to Becket.  From Becket his restless feet took him to the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania where the Susquehanna River flows. This is now known as Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. It wasn't back then. It was part of Connecticut. 

Solomon left Pennsylvania with his wife Olive (Scott) Goss and family and headed west to a place now called Dayton, Ohio about 1792 and then to Marietta where he settled probably by 1798 when his daughter Elizabeth married Andrew Lake. Solomon and Olive are my 4th great grandparents.  If they had not gone to Ohio it might have been a very different story for in Ohio we find Spracklins, Delanos and Kellers who went there and settled.

I leave you with a picture of the Connecticut River in one of its more serene moods.  The first time I saw it was in East Windsor and it was swollen and looked menacing as I drove over the bridge.  That was my first trip years ago.  This trip it was brown with silt but still awesome from the French Bridge.  I planned on more photos but just didn't get them.  I love rivers and wish they could talk.  I enjoy following them on my trips.

A Surprise In the Mail: Abel Goss of Lower Waterford, Vermont published 2011

I have always loved surprises and this was a good one.  In the mail came a beautiful dark green bound book .  It smells wonderful it is so new and the pages of this book are shinny and crisp.  It was written by my half 8th cousin once removed, David Philip Goss. I am serious!  At least that is what my Legacy Database tells me about our connection? 

Our common ancestor is Philip Goss (I) of Roxbury who later migrated to Lancaster and is buried there in the Old Settler Burial Field in Lancaster (the one over the railroad tracks) with the date 1698 as his death.  This Philip married twice. first to Hannah Hopkins whom I descend from and second, he married Mary Prescott in 1690.  She was a granddaughter of John Prescott founder of Lancaster.  My half cousin descends from Philip and Mary's son John Goss, a half brother to my Capt. Philip Goss who is buried in the Old Indian Cemetery in Brookfield with his wife Judith Hayward Goss.

The book is:  Abel Goss of Lower Waterford, by David Philip Goss, Otter Bay Books, 2011. 

This book is literally "hot off the press." 

My half cousin found this blog and was very surprised to see his name and manuscript listed in the post dated Monday, April 25, 2011 - For Thursday, April 14, 2011 Winchester, New Hampshire.  I had yet to introduce myself and one day I got this wonderful email from a happy excited person.  So I guess we are now even for he has surprised me with this wonderful book which is an updated and expanded version of the PDF I mentioned in the Winchester post. 

This is exciting because David takes the descendancy of Philip Goss of Roxbury and Mary Prescott Goss down through their son John Goss and his wife Mary (Woods) Goss to their son Philip Goss who was the one that married Hannah Ball and tells the real story.  This family left Lancaster, Massachusetts and headed up to New Hampshire and settled there.  Meanwhile another Philip Goss, a cousin and a son of Philip Goss (III) of Brookfield and Keziah Cooley, headed to North Granby, Granville, Becket and then to the Wyoming Valley where the Susquehanna River flows.  Some of the descendants of that Philip stayed there in the Luzerne County, Pennsylvania area and others headed further west to Ohio. This is my line. 

Meanwhile, Philip and Hannah Gosses children headed to other parts of New Hampshire and Vermont and then they went west to places like Wisconsin, Colorado and Washington State! Here is a brief summary of the descendancy discussed in the book: 

Philip Goss of Roxbury and Lancaster marries a 2nd time to Mary Prescott

John Goss, their, son, marries Mary Woods and their son is named Philip Goss.

Philip Goss marries Hannah Ball and migrates to Winchester, NH and settled there.

Their son Abel Goss married Irene Sprague and they name a son Abel.

This Abel married Amanda Hebard of Waterford, Vermont

From there the line goes down to David the writer and compiler of this new book.

The book has an index, footnotes with abundant sources, great photographs and examples of documents.  David writes lots of narrative and explanations.  A job well done!

If you are interested in obtaining a copy of this book, please contact the writer of this blog or leave a comment and I will be happy to get you in touch with David.

Catching Up! My Massachusetts Meandering Binder!

I have learned that after a trip it is vital that I get all my information and research sourced and filed properly.   If I let it slide and come back to it later I wonder what I was trying to do or realize I don't remember!!!

So I am happy to report that my binder for my blog and trip Massachusetts Meanderings is organized with tabs and a wonderful Table of Contents.

It is all in a 4 inch Binder, yup...4 inches and it is full.  What is in it...everything that has to do with my trip to Massachusetts and Connecticut and the blog.  LOVE IT, all in one place.  Of course I have my files and photos on the computer but that is under my Genealogical Trips folder which include the original itinerary, my trip journal and my blog book - a copy of my posts in Word, the photos of the trip in nice files with topics, and of course the research which will need to be moved to the Research surname files and sourced. 

1.  Table of Contents - very detailed because I am forgetting already???
2.  Copy of the Journal of my first trip to Connecticut
3.  Picasa Public Photos - a thumbnail of the tombstones printed out.
4.  Blogger list of my posts - several pages
5.  Streets and Trips maps - I did some editing so these are the important ones
6.  Cemetery forms with the back up pages that I was using to find the graves.
7.  Blog posts printed out in black and white and doublesided.  Lots of pages.
8.  Itinerary for each of the days with edits and my scribbles
9.  Travel documents that I want to keep for awhile - reservations, airline stuff etc.
10.  Maps I picked up - in plastic sleeves and other information I want to keep for awhile.
11.  Emails I had connecting with people that I feel are important - making appointments etc.
12.  Brochures and pamphlets of various repositories and societies as well as travel, also in plastic sleeves.

Everything is sorted in sections in between tabs so that I can find it by that event like when I visited The Brookfields or Lancaster. 

In the past I had a travel file folder, a research files, pictures and everything in many places and it was difficult to remember where things were.  So having it all in one place is really nice.  Most is on the computer so I can at some point in a couple of years dissemble it and reuse the binder for something else. 

Yeah, I know I am nuts or obssessed but I have learned that if I don't document a trip and organize it when I get home, I forget and it is more painful to piece it together later!  Trips are sources. I wish my cousin Paul had been more diligent about documenting his trips to interview the family in Pennsylvania back in the 1930's and 1940's. 

Now I still have some things to do but that can be done over the next months.