Homeschool Week

For months since they opened, our kiddos have been dying to go see the Sea Life aquarium and LegoLand in Kansas City.  This week Crown Center hosted a "Homeschool Week" where local attractions had special activities and discounts for admissions for homeschoolers, so this was our chance! 
  We snagged Ducky and Grandma and made the trip to see what we could see in the sea and such:)  Our first stop was Sea Life. The kids were so thrilled. From getting to pet a horseshoe crab, to "helping" the stingray gal give her talk, to getting to do the interactive quiz throughout the exhibit, it was a hit!

Shorty at the touch pool with Ducky

finding a hidey hole

what a good big brother and sister!

For lunch we ate at Fritz's in Crown Center.  It is such a neat place where little trains bring your food to your table.  Little guy especially was enchanted by the trains running around.

waiting for the train

Just being at the Crown Center shops brought back memories of going there every Christmas for several years, as well as other times when I went with my best bud to watch her stepdad's band preform. 

Next stop was Lego Land which the kids loved.  There was lots for them to do - from the rides to the play area, to all the things to build.  I was impressed by the Lego replicas of Kansas City landmarks.  By the end of the day we were all wonderfully worn out.  What an adventure!

Bubby in front of the KC Legos

Shorty with a Lego giraffe

Pilgrims

  This year the kids and I have been trying out a new History curriculum.  We have been working our way through Beautiful Feet's Early American History and loving the literature based curriculum!  We have been spending the last several weeks on the Pilgrims.  Since early in my genealogical career, I have known that I was descended from Mayflower Pilgrim Francis Cooke on my Williams side.  He's not one of the guys you always hear about, but that he made that hard journey and persevered is enough for me. Another neat slant is that some of our buddies are descended from the Mayflower Billingtons (ever hear of the boy that almost blew up the Mayflower?  I hadn't until they told us about their ancestor - you should find the story if you haven't heard it!) 

I love that our buddies' ancestor and ours lived so close together!

  So whenever applicable in our reading we would work in discussions about the people we knew in the story.   When my mom called one day with the news that we were descended from John Howland on my Dimmick side (the pilgrim that fell overboard on the journey over), I called the kids in for our daily history reading saying "I have a surprise for you!"  They responded, "Who are we related to?!?" What a way to increase a child's interest in history! 

John Howland's house

  Turns out we're also related to John Alden and Priscilla Mullins on the Chapman side. 

Of course, all this discussion of early American ancestors led to a discussion on Pocahontas. Now Mookie is campaigning for me to find a link to one of her favorite heroes:)  I can't say I would be disappointed to find that! :)

The Namesake

Once upon a time when the hubby and I were first married, his Grandma Patrick was having a bad case of great-grandbaby fever.  Her brothers and sisters had all started to have some come around and she was ready!  Hubby and I were the first prospect and so when we'd visit her, she'd drop hints like "when I have great-grandchildren...".  Unfortunately she didn't live to see any of those little twinkles in her eye in person, but we did fulfill one of her requests.  She used to say, "if you have a daughter, you should name her Artemacy or Sevilla".  Both were family names from both her side and her husband's and she always thought they were so neat:)  So, when Mookie came along we gave her the middle name Artemissia, and then named her first name after our beloved Grandma Patrick who gave us the idea.

Mookie 3 months

So who is this great-great-great Grandma we named our little girl after?  Artemacy Pritchett was the daughter of Andrew and Louisa Myers Pritchett.  In 1850, just before she was married, she's living with the Clark family in Morgan County, Indiana.  Her mother had just passed, and her father had died a few years previous.  She married John Edgar Patrick later that year and had 9 children over the next 22 years they had together.  In 1872 John died in a railroad accident. When we visited Indiana several years ago, I was unable to get the newspapers for that era because they were missing!  Maybe someday I can get more details. 

Artemacy, Velma, and Eliza

  Last year a distant cousin of Hubby's sent us a picture of Artemacy!  I was so excited! It was taken with her daughter Eliza (Patrick) Stone and granddaughter (aunt to my Hubby) Velma Patrick.  I envision that this was taken when Artemacy was taking Velma, who had been recently orphaned due to a flu epidemic, to live with Eliza. The funny thing is that recently I finally found Artemacy in the 1900 census, which was about the time this picture was taken, because living with Eliza Stone in Texas is an "Arta Mason".  Ha! Don't let those census takers fool you. They aren't always correct in their transcriptions:) 

  One physical tie our family has is a fan that belonged to Artemacy.  It was given to Hubby's grandparents on their anniversary by some distant Patrick cousins.  It is a treasure to have something that she actually owned and touched.  It brings the past to life!

It Doesn't Have to be Hard

     My mom and I were talking recently about how we were stalled out in our research.  In frustration, and a bit of free time (which seems to be hard to come by these days), I was determined to find any kind of a breakthrough I could.  I chose a family we hadn't worked on in a while - the Tanners.  Now this family is kind of funny for us because for 3 or 4 generations we have absolutely nothing on the wives of the Tanner ancestors, maiden names - yes, parentage - no.  So, I decided to pursue my grandma Dinah (Elwell) Tanner, mostly because I have always loved her name!

Dinah Elwell stone

     Since I had exhausted Ancestry.com's databases, I did a basic Google search - nothing new.  My back up is always Google Books.  So, I typed in "Aaron Tanner, Dinah, Tompkins County, New York" (where they originated from) - BINGO! It brought up a journal for the Montoyne family that basically said that Dinah had a sister Melissa who married John Montoyne.  Melissa went from Tompkins County and settled in Tioga County, Pennsylvania which is where Aaron and Dinah last resided as well.  Too cool!  So, I went back to Ancestry to enter in my new info.  While I was there, I was reminded that Aaron and Dinah had a daughter named Melissa.  Ok, there's a name from the Elwell family.  Then I got to thinking, my ggg-grandpa Ebenezer E. Tanner (Aaron & Dinah's son) was not named after someone on the Tanner side that I could see.  I had always assumed that his middle name was Elwell, but now the origin of his first name got me to thinking.  So, I typed in a basic Google search of "Ebenezer Elwell, Tompkins County, New York".  Paydirt!  There was an Ebenezer Elwell who had been involved in the Revolutionary War that died in Tompkins County!  On further examination of the previously mentioned journal on the Montoyne family, it speculated that Ebenezer Elwell was the father of Dinah & Melissa.  Cool thing about Ebenezer Elwell is that he served with the Connecticut regiments in the Revolution and was at Valley Forge that horrible winter.  I can't wait to find out more about him!
     Don't ever discount the benefits of a Google search.  It has aided me once before in discovering a family mystery.  My hubby's ggg-aunt had done some family history and had written down that his ggggg-grandpa, Moses Thompson, had died while out in a snowstorm - that's it, no dates, just that tidbit.  So, I had his daughter's death dates and I could approximate his dates and location, but could never find anything.  Once on a whim, I typed in a search of "Moses Thompson" "Beaver County, Pennsylvania" and found a death notice for him!  It explained the circumstances of his death in the snow and gave a date. From there I was able to find out his wife's maiden name! 
  In short, genealogy doesn't have to be hard (although we can make it that way).  You don't have to buy expensive subscriptions (although they do help immensely at times!).  You just have to be clever and use the info at hand.  Sometimes the answer is almost right under your nose:)