I thought I would share with you some family history news from my two trips this fall. In September I joined a group from the New England Historical Genealogical Society for a trip to East Anglia. This is the area where a great number of our early New England ancestors lived before leaving for New England in the 1630’s. Perhaps the biggest thrill was our visit to the church at Nazeing, Essex County where our immigrant ancestor John Curtis was baptized on September 15, 1577 and married his wife Elizabeth Hutchins. Gordon’s and my mother Janet (Curtis) Williams was their 12th generation descendant.
We were also the guests of the charming present owner of Cuckoo Farm in Little Bedew, Essex that belonged to the Porter family in the late1500’s (more on the Porter’s later). The Reverend Thomas Hooker and his family occupied the house before he literally escaped to Holland for a short time and then secretly came back to England for a hasty departure for New England. He was about to be imprisoned by the King for his Puritan religious beliefs. The house is beautifully maintained complete with an extremely friendly cat, who greeted each member of our group personally as well as an equally friendly donkey. The field next to the house had sheep grazing and very discreetly concealed behind lovely shrubbery there was a very 21st century swimming pool! It was difficult to remind yourself that the house is over four hundred years old and the Nazeing Church dates at least to the 15th century!
Early in November I spent a week in Salt Lake City, again with a group from the New England Historical Genealogical Society doing research at the Mormon Family History
Library. The Library is five floors and almost a block in size with 400 computer terminals, books, and microfilm etc. One feels like “a kid in a candy shop” trying to decided what genealogical gem to grab first!
But, my first wonderful surprise came as I walked in to the Library on our first day to a first floor classroom for an orientation lecture. On the wall outside the classroom was a large “pedigree chart” with the descendants of one of our ancestors- Robert White (1558 – 1617) and his wife Bridget Allgar (1562 – died after 1623) of Messing and Shalford, Essex County. The White’s had eight children and our family descends from three of their daughters who married in England but came to New England in the 1600’s with their husband’s and children. Mary White (1590 – 1652) married (Joseph Loomis 1588 – 25 November 1658) and many generations later was the ancestor of our father Gerald. Williams. Elizabeth White (1591 – 1676) married William Goodwin (1591 – 1673) and through numerous generations including Dwight’s and Dewey’s was also Gerald Williams ancestor. The third daughter Anna White (1600 – 1647) married John Porter (1600 – 1648) and several generations later Hannah Porter married Zachariah Curtis and therefore is the ancestor of our mother Janet Curtis Williams. So actually our parents were very, very distant, much removed cousins! John Porter’s family had been the owners of Little Baddow Farm who invited the Thomas Hooker family to live there for several years.
The point of all this rather involved “who’s who” is that the wall pedigree showed an amazing diversity of famous people who are descended from Robert and Bridget (Allgar) White. And no! we are not included on the wall chart. So here are your very remote cousins for your amusement or bragging rights!
Emily Dickinson (1830 – 1886) poet
William Williams Signer of the Declaration of Independence
Hiriam Ulysses Grant (1822 -1877) Union General in the Civil War and United States President 1869 – 1877.
Wilbert and Orville Wright; early aviation
Shirley Temple (1928 -) child movie star and Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovak Donald Clark Osmond (1957 -) actor, singer
Lucille Ball (1911-2008) movie and TV star
Philo Taylor Farnsworth (1906 – 1971) Invented television
Jon Steven Young (1961 -) Pro Bowl Hall of Fame. Most valuable player for San Francisco 49ers, Super Bowl XXVIIII in 1995. He grew up in Utah.
Joseph Smith (1805 – 1844) organized the Church of the Latter Day Saints 6 Apr, 1830
Gordon Bitner Hinckley (1910 –2008) Fifteenth President of the Mormon Church, 1995-2008
I expect that this particular pedigree was chosen for the prominent place on the wall because of the association of the last two with the Mormon Church.
One of the New England Historic and Genealogical Society staff members was kind enough to take a picture of me in front of the wall pedigree and I will try to get copies for you.
With fond wishes to each one of you for a blessed and peaceful Thanksgiving!
Fondly, Aunt Debby
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
News from Beth
Hello family!
It has been a very busy month. I survived two audits, I'm still employed and not in jail so that tells me they went well. I am winding up my tax class on Tuesday evening with my final and if I work for H & R I start another class December 1st. I went for an interview this evening, so if they want me I will work part time during tax season.
Stephanie had an infected root canal that had to be treated in Dayton, thus she was forced to come home and stay with me for 5 whole days! I enjoyed taking care of her and having her here. After she recovered we had a great time visiting. I kept her here as long as I possibly could - it was nice. She turned 23 last Sunday, I can't believe my youngest is 23! Her classes are going well, she is doing them online this quarter and loves it.
Justin is doing well. Today he mistakenly texted me a message he meant to send to his girl friend....I was in hysterics. I was very thankful it was a nice G rated message, and he was even more thankful after I told him what he did:) I won't let him live that one down for a while.
I am going to attempt to make pies this weekend. I am not much of a baker, so the crew in St. Louis will have to suffer through my lack of baking expertise. If they turn out good I will be sure to post that in the blog. If they don't turn out good you won't hear about it from me! Stephanie and I will be traveling to St. Louis on Wednesday, Justin will be spending Thanksgiving with his Dad and family.
Aunt Betty called to tell me that they are unable to make it for the Geneva get together the weekend they had originally picked July 9th thru 11th. They have changed it to the last weekend in June 25th thru 28th. Unfortunately the kids and I won't be able to make it on those dates. It is my year end at school and I can't take any time off during that time. But of course all of your are still welcome to go, you can coordinate with Aunt Betty on that.
That's all for now. Hope all is well with everyone.
Our love to all,
Beth, Justin and Stephanie
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
News from Pam & Lindsay
November 2008
This fall we really made up for our "travel deficit" ! Went to the Hawaiian Hula Weekend in Chicago. We treasure our island friends,as they are so warm, caring and fun ! Lots of good music,food,etc.One close friend gave Pam an authentic Hawaiian dress from "home".(When we attended last year, she found out Pam didn't own one.)Our shave ice booth was a big hit !!!! Some Samoan girls kept comingback to try different flavors. A couple old Hawaiians just raved aboutthe quality. Can't wait til spring to hit the road.
FL seems like ages ago. We had a wonderful time. First, we attendeda Polynesian workshop weekend in Orlando. Pam learned how to weave leisand scarves out of eyelash yarn. Of course, I took a ukulele class.Then off to Pam's longtime friends Cathi and Don in Lakeland. We had a great time at Seaworld. From there, we headed off to Mote Marine Laboratoryin Sarasota, where Pam is a member. What a worthwhile place. They're a non-profitorganization devoted to the rescue/rehab of sea creatures and the welfare of the ocean.Our week ended with a couple days at Greg's. Pam and the "men of the house" hit Venice Beach on a shark tooth hunt. We just love their boat dock !
Greg installed a Nightlight on the pier, so it's like watching a giant aquarium at night. A manatee and a Dolphin swam by during our stay. Pam was the naughty aunt and gave the boys a big bag of M&Ms, which Spencer decided to have for breakfast the next morning ! That week passed too soon... Can't wait to go back !!!!!!!
Love, Pam & Lindsay
Sunday, November 9, 2008
News from the Beech House
November 2008
Greetings from St. Louis! We’re doing pretty well this month. Leslie has received her 6th chemo treatment – just two more to go! Progress is still good, and her doctors say that her recovery is right on track. She’s slowed down a bit, but is still able to work her regular schedule - Monday thru Thursday, and get out on the town with Mark, now and then. She is looking forward to 4 weeks between treatments 6 and 7, which will include hosting the family here for Thanksgiving and her birthday on Nov. 17th. Surgery is still tentatively scheduled for late January, followed by radiation.
A North Carolina university chose Ryan to host some college students at his home in El Salvador as part of an international studies program. They sent him 5 girls! – which he kept three and generously transferred two of them to a friend in a neighboring town. All of the students were very impressed and some may turn in their applications to the Peace Corp. The towns’ people, however, are still talking about this "improper" situation.
We spent last Saturday with Alex in Columbia, Missouri. It was a nice visit. He was still excited about seeing Obama the night before in the college quadrangle, along with about 20,000 others. We were pleased to see how much he is enjoying college life.
We’re looking forward to having Thanksgiving dinner in St. Louis and seeing Beth, Stephanie, and the Florida Williams; and attending the annual Donahue Turkey Day race and picnic. By the way, Leslie says any other family members who would like to join us in St. Louis -- you are invited!
Mark’s mom is doing pretty well, continuing to live alone in her house in California, with lots of help from a gardener, handyman, housekeeper and two good neighbors.
Maybe Ryan's been in the jungle too long?
NOTE: AOL Journals is discontinuing their service, so I have moved Ryan's Journal (his adventures with the Peace Corps in El Salvador) to this address: http://ryans-trip.blogspot.com/
Greetings from St. Louis! We’re doing pretty well this month. Leslie has received her 6th chemo treatment – just two more to go! Progress is still good, and her doctors say that her recovery is right on track. She’s slowed down a bit, but is still able to work her regular schedule - Monday thru Thursday, and get out on the town with Mark, now and then. She is looking forward to 4 weeks between treatments 6 and 7, which will include hosting the family here for Thanksgiving and her birthday on Nov. 17th. Surgery is still tentatively scheduled for late January, followed by radiation.
A North Carolina university chose Ryan to host some college students at his home in El Salvador as part of an international studies program. They sent him 5 girls! – which he kept three and generously transferred two of them to a friend in a neighboring town. All of the students were very impressed and some may turn in their applications to the Peace Corp. The towns’ people, however, are still talking about this "improper" situation.
We spent last Saturday with Alex in Columbia, Missouri. It was a nice visit. He was still excited about seeing Obama the night before in the college quadrangle, along with about 20,000 others. We were pleased to see how much he is enjoying college life.
We’re looking forward to having Thanksgiving dinner in St. Louis and seeing Beth, Stephanie, and the Florida Williams; and attending the annual Donahue Turkey Day race and picnic. By the way, Leslie says any other family members who would like to join us in St. Louis -- you are invited!
Mark’s mom is doing pretty well, continuing to live alone in her house in California, with lots of help from a gardener, handyman, housekeeper and two good neighbors.
Maybe Ryan's been in the jungle too long?
NOTE: AOL Journals is discontinuing their service, so I have moved Ryan's Journal (his adventures with the Peace Corps in El Salvador) to this address: http://ryans-trip.blogspot.com/
Dayton News
Happy 80th Birthday to Aunt Betty!!
Hello Family:
I went over to see the Heffernans today at Aunt Betty's house. They were all in for her birthday and it was so nice to see everyone. They fed me well, breakfast food and pumpkin pie with ice cream. I arrived just in time to eat and Tom asked how come the Williams always show up when there is food around? I said we have good timing.
While I was there they were discussing their next family reunion. They are going to do 4 days in Geneva, NY! Well I chimed in and invited the Williams to join them, everyone thought that was a great idea. Tentatively they are planning to go July 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th. They are thinking of staying at the Ramada Inn there. I thought maybe we could do that too and also include a trip to Ithaca like we had planned before? Let me know who would be interested in doing this. I thought it would be great to show the kids where both of our parents grew up. Herards and Aunt Debbie included of course! Let's toss the idea around and see what we all would like to do. Give me your feedback please.
This weekend has been interesting. Started out with Carroll going to State Championships in soccer on Friday. After sitting through constant rain, we had two overtimes and a final shootout in which we won!! First time since 1980. It was very exciting. I was in Columbus right by OSU with a friend and her kids while Stephanie was at my house sick with an infected root canal.
Stephanie had come home to go to the dentist on Thursday, he put her on an antibiotic and told her to come back if it doesn't get better. We spent the day in MVH emergency room to see the dentist as she was in terrible pain. They changed her antibiotic and gave her some pain meds. She is still here and still in terrible pain. I will be calling the dentist tomorrow to see what they can do for her hopefully quickly.
Let me know on the Geneva/Ithaca idea!
Our love to all,
Beth, Justin and Stephanie
Hello Family:
I went over to see the Heffernans today at Aunt Betty's house. They were all in for her birthday and it was so nice to see everyone. They fed me well, breakfast food and pumpkin pie with ice cream. I arrived just in time to eat and Tom asked how come the Williams always show up when there is food around? I said we have good timing.
While I was there they were discussing their next family reunion. They are going to do 4 days in Geneva, NY! Well I chimed in and invited the Williams to join them, everyone thought that was a great idea. Tentatively they are planning to go July 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th. They are thinking of staying at the Ramada Inn there. I thought maybe we could do that too and also include a trip to Ithaca like we had planned before? Let me know who would be interested in doing this. I thought it would be great to show the kids where both of our parents grew up. Herards and Aunt Debbie included of course! Let's toss the idea around and see what we all would like to do. Give me your feedback please.
This weekend has been interesting. Started out with Carroll going to State Championships in soccer on Friday. After sitting through constant rain, we had two overtimes and a final shootout in which we won!! First time since 1980. It was very exciting. I was in Columbus right by OSU with a friend and her kids while Stephanie was at my house sick with an infected root canal.
Stephanie had come home to go to the dentist on Thursday, he put her on an antibiotic and told her to come back if it doesn't get better. We spent the day in MVH emergency room to see the dentist as she was in terrible pain. They changed her antibiotic and gave her some pain meds. She is still here and still in terrible pain. I will be calling the dentist tomorrow to see what they can do for her hopefully quickly.
Let me know on the Geneva/Ithaca idea!
Our love to all,
Beth, Justin and Stephanie
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Florida Williams October Update
All is well from sunny Florida! We had quite a good month in fact. Our beleaguered Tampa Bay Rays decided to step it up and made it all the way to the World Series! Pretty cool, we live about 5 miles from the stadium, so the energy level was pretty high all month. We had the opportunity to attend most of the playoff games held here at home. Tickets were easier to get than one would think, I guess ten years of finishing last has its benefits. Our favorite game was game seven of the ALCS against Boston. What a game, I couldn’t hear for two days. I’m kind of glad it is actually over, 17 games either live or on TV in one month is taxing on our sleep. (Many of the games were over after 1:00 a.m.)
We did have the honor of having two visitors this month, Pam and Lindsay! They came down after visiting some friends in a near by town and spent two nights with us. What a great visit! I took Friday off and Pam, the boys and I went down to Venice beach to look for sharks teeth. The very first scoop I got a nice one right on top. I figured this was going to be easy. Well the next hour I got only 4 more little ones and Pam was forced to carry Spencer around since he decided he was done walking. We returned to the house to find Lindsay in our back yard looking through the shells in our backyard. He managed to find two very large sharks teeth in about 10 minutes. Go figure, our adventure was more memorable at least. (I did go back out in the back yard the other day and found another in about 3 minutes)
I just returned from a business trip to Rhode Island and Connecticut. When we flew in the trees had just changed, making it really beautiful. Granted the next day it rained all day and all the leaves fell off, but at least I got a good look at them.
Oh yeah, we have kids as well and as I gather, that is what you all want to hear about. Now onto the highlight, if I wrote this first you wouldn’t have read any of the rest. Halloween was spectacular. My boys, as mentioned last month, are totally into Star Wars. So Spencer picked Yoda and Curtis went old school with Obi One Kenobi. For those that are not fanatics like us, both of these are sword yielding good guys and our boys played them perfectly. Spencer even has learned to talk like Yoda. The pictures will speak for themselves. This brought back many good memories with Dad and I carving pumpkins and visiting our old Greensboro neighborhood. I am more than honored to carry on this tradition.
Yoda
Sheryl is doing great as well, she continues to put up with us and for the most part still likes me. All is good. We send our love, Greg
We did have the honor of having two visitors this month, Pam and Lindsay! They came down after visiting some friends in a near by town and spent two nights with us. What a great visit! I took Friday off and Pam, the boys and I went down to Venice beach to look for sharks teeth. The very first scoop I got a nice one right on top. I figured this was going to be easy. Well the next hour I got only 4 more little ones and Pam was forced to carry Spencer around since he decided he was done walking. We returned to the house to find Lindsay in our back yard looking through the shells in our backyard. He managed to find two very large sharks teeth in about 10 minutes. Go figure, our adventure was more memorable at least. (I did go back out in the back yard the other day and found another in about 3 minutes)
I just returned from a business trip to Rhode Island and Connecticut. When we flew in the trees had just changed, making it really beautiful. Granted the next day it rained all day and all the leaves fell off, but at least I got a good look at them.
Oh yeah, we have kids as well and as I gather, that is what you all want to hear about. Now onto the highlight, if I wrote this first you wouldn’t have read any of the rest. Halloween was spectacular. My boys, as mentioned last month, are totally into Star Wars. So Spencer picked Yoda and Curtis went old school with Obi One Kenobi. For those that are not fanatics like us, both of these are sword yielding good guys and our boys played them perfectly. Spencer even has learned to talk like Yoda. The pictures will speak for themselves. This brought back many good memories with Dad and I carving pumpkins and visiting our old Greensboro neighborhood. I am more than honored to carry on this tradition.
Yoda
Obi One
Happy Warriors
Happy Rays Fans
Sheryl is doing great as well, she continues to put up with us and for the most part still likes me. All is good. We send our love, Greg
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