Eugenious

Julie’s post about her family inspired me to get on the web to see if I could learn anything about family members in generations earlier than the ones for which she has pictures. I had no idea what I was getting into. If you want the short version, here it is: it took me about five minutes of clicking to get back to the Mayflower. Goodness.

And I owe it all, of course, to the Mormons. That’s right, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They are obsessed with genealogy, and they put it all up on the web.

So, without further ado, we traced it back like this:

Julie Polhemus

Julie’s father, Richard Polhemus

Richard’s father, John Alexander Polhemus

John’s mother, Julia Hanna Polhemus

Julia’s mother, Ada Preston Hanna

That’s as far as Julie’s pictures go. Pretty good so far. I went to the LDS Family Search web page and typed in “Ada Preston” and “Dover, NY”. And up she came, just like that: Ada Preston, born 1859, Dover, New York; died 1926, Poughkeepsie, New York.

The page lists her parents and her husband, John A. Hanna. Each person’s name is a clickable link. Here’s Ada Preston.

From there, it was just a matter of clicking on links. Watch this:

Ada’s father, Henry M. Preston (1830-1900; born and died in Dover, NY)

Henry’s mother, Sarah M. Ward (1805-1882; born and died in Dover, NY)

Sarah’s mother, Anna Soule (1774-?; born Beekman’s Pct, Dutchess Co., NY)

Anna’s father, Nathan Soule (1738-?; born Dartmouth, MA)

Nathan’s father, George Soule (1709-1793; born and died in Dartmouth, MA)

George’s father, Nathan Soule (born 1675-1680, Dartmouth, MA; died 1738, Dartmouth, MA)

Nathan’s father, George Soule (born 1625-1639, Plymouth, MA; died 1704, Dartmouth, MA)

Wait a minute, did you say Plymouth, Massachusetts? In the 1620s or 1630s?

Let’s try George’s father. Something tells me that he wasn’t born in Massachusetts.

George’s father was also named George Soule. According to the LDS records, he was born between 1593 and 1600, in Eckington, Worcester, England. He died in 1679 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. He was married to Mary Bucket (or perhaps Becket, Buckett, or Beckett).

Now we go back to Google and type in “Mayflower passengers.” Good old Google gives us the goods in the first link. Sure enough, George Soule was one of the passengers on the Mayflower. According to the web page, he married Mary Buckett (flexible spellers, these folks) and had at least nine children who survived into adulthood. Including George.

To sum up: one of Julie’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfathers was one of 102 passengers on the Mayflower. That’s ten greats, twelve generations back in just a few minutes of clicking.

Wow. I think I might be starting to like this web thing.

And if that weren’t enough, I have it on good authority that I can trace my family tree back to William Brewster, another passenger on the Mayflower. I bet those helpful Mormons will be able to assist me with that one as well.

One note: In doing a bit of side research, I came across a number of notes warning about the veracity of these records, since they are mostly submitted by humans whose research is unverifiable. Wise researchers suggest using the records as a starting point. Genealogy research is loaded with false leads and hard-to-verify information. Nevertheless, this was pretty neat.

When my Gramma Gertrude passed away nearly four years ago, I asked for these photos that hung on her bedroom wall. They’ve been on the plate rail in our dining room for two years, and, on Friday, I arranged them according to what branches they inhabit on my family tree.

The little smiling cherub on the bottom is my Dad, and, on viewer’s left is a toddler photo of Gramma Gertrude, complete with side curls and a crocheted sweater, pointing at something fascinating over the photographer’s shoulder. Her parents, George Fisher and Ethel Violet Pilch Fisher, or Nana, are on the left. Nana lived with Gramma when I was little, rocking in her chair in the kitchen at Gramma’s gorgeous house on School Street, and she passed away when I was eight.

Above Nana, going clockwise, are George Fisher’s parents, Grandpa & Grandma Fisher, as Gramma Gertrude’s note says, leaning on a rather ornate column. Her name was Anna, and I’ll defer to Dad and Uncle John to fill in his name. Clockwise and up a bit are Nana’s parents, Robert Owen Pilch and Mary Ann Monement Pilch, rocking on the porch. Mary Ann looks exactly like her daughter would when I knew her years later. I believe Mary Ann was blind, and I think my Dad told me he remembers being in her kitchen as she was cooking and singing.

10/7: Regarding Grandpa & Grandma Fisher, from Dad: “My grandfather Fisher’s father was named Johannes Fischer—a Swiss immigrant. He and Anna (who was German) lived in Hermann, Missouri—a German-speaking community on the Missouri River, founded by Socialists in the 1840’s—It is now famous as a wine-growing tourist destination. Johannes lost an eye in the Civil War—he fought on the Union side–Missouri was about 50/50 in the war. Grandpa Fisher dropped the “c” during the First World War—there was strong anti-German prejudice at the time.”

On viewer’s right of my agreeable little Dad, who has a little curl “right in the middle of [his] forehead,” are his father, John Alexander Polhemus, with his parents, Julia Hanna Polhemus and George Warren Polhemus. Moving counter- clockwise, George’s parents are above him and to the right; they are Mathias Van Dyke Polhemus and Eliza Warren Polhemus. Up and to the left are Julia’s parents in the separate photographs, John A. Hanna with the astonishing moustache and his wife, Ada Preston Hanna. John Hanna was a New York assemblyman and head of Dutchess County’s Republican Party.

Okay, we’re ready for photos of the ancestors of our three other parents. I’ve thrown down the gauntlet. I’ll find some wall space.

Happy Birthday, Gramma.