Year: 2010

Jacob Crisp

Posted on by Kathleen

I’m chugging along in my Mays family research. That is, if chugging along means I work on it about half an hour every few days? That’s all my brain can take of these nomads. I’ve lucked out recently though.

Last week I was playing around with search terms on Ancestry and I hit a goldmine.

By goldmine, I mean I didn’t have to look through the whole page to find what I was looking for. Jacob Crisp’s name was the first thing I saw on the page. Jacob is the son of Sarilda Mays, the Mays ancestor I’m currently trying to research for the website. Apparently Jacob’s family moved to Mansfield, Ohio. I know this because their family history is all over the Mansfield newspapers. I’m sure there’s more then what I found in the day I searched. That’s saying a lot because I saved seven different newspaper pages that day.

Among a lot of the results were hospital admittances and releases for Jacob’s wife. Eventually, she would pass away from a long illness. I would have known that even if the obituary didn’t tell me because she must have been in and out of the hospital a dozen times in a year.

Jacob’s obituary/article in the Mansfield News Journal; May 7, 1968:

Jacob Crisp, 79, of 673 Fairfax Ave died Monday morning in Mansfield General Hospital following a five month illness.

He was born June 7, 1888 in Elliott County, Ky., and lived here since 1937. Mr. Crisp was a retired farmer.

Survivors are six sons, Walter Crisp of Newark O., Vester Crisp of Plain City, O., Sanford Crisp of Chillicothe, Tennison Crisp of Ontario, Estel Crisp of Irwin, O., and Vernon Crisp with the U.S. Air Force in Wichita Falls, Kan.; five daughters, Mrs. Gladys Sydnor of Lima, Mrs. Nannie McFarland of Springfield, Mrs. Onae Caudill of Mansfield, Mrs. Louie Minzler of Orlando, Fla., Mrs Arzona Huff, with whom Mr. Crisp made his home, a number of grandchilden and great-grandchildren, and one sister, Mrs. Jennie Fultz of Mansfield.

The body is at the Wappner Funeral Home where services will be held Thursday at 3pm by Rev. Thomas Leatherwood of the Mansfield Baptist Temple. Burial will be in Mansfield Memorial Park. Friends may call at the funeral home starting Tuesday evening.

Jacob Crisp Death Certificate

Road Trip

Posted on by Kathleen

If you’ve read even a smidge on this blog, you know that I don’t get out much. I won’t call myself a shut in or a hermit, but I’m not far from it! I really hate to leave, but when the going gets rough I can do it. That’s not necessarily what is happening here. We’re visiting Miami for the holiday. My brother is hosting it for the first time in 10 years and this time he’s doing it from his very own house. The last time he hosted, he was living in a studio apartment with his then fiance. I was still in high school and the biggest thing I got to take on the trip with me was a new CD walkman and some new drawing supplies.

This time is a little different. In 10 years, my road trip experience has changed dramatically. I don’t spend the week before I leave going to the store for batteries and CDs/cassettes. I don’t take 5 books with me for the long road. I read fast!

This time for the 1069.7 miles (15 hours and 48 mins) I’m not taking much, just two things.

That’s right, Wheat Thin Stix and my new camera. You see, over the last few years I’ve learned I really do enjoy watching the scenery around me. I like to sit in the front passenger seat and help whoever is driving navigate. I like to see the miles tick down on the GPS. There’s nothing like seeing those miles tick down.

I’m going to take a little break from the computer world while I’m gone. I hope the internet doesn’t collapse while I’m gone, that’ be bad, very bad!

My kitty is so photogenic. I’m going to miss the little booger. Even if he did earn his name of Cujo. Now I know how my neighbor feels when she leaves her dogs with me. It’s tough leaving them!

So this is me signing off for now! Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans an just Happy last week of November to everyone else!

Note: I have no affiliation with Nikon or Nabisco. They are not compensating me for this post. I just use their stuff. Technically I eat the Nabisco stuff, but it works all the same.

Finding Helen

Posted on by Kathleen

I decided to take a break from my Mays family this weekend. I love them, but they’re migraines waiting to happen. Researching the Mays family gives me the same feeling I get after I’ve taken a dose of Benadryl. Like I’ve got a head full of fog.

When I got started, I just typed in Helen Menzies at FamilySearch. She’s one I have information on but I still wasn’t able to find her after she left the family house between the 1841 and 1851 England censuses. I know from William Menzies letter that Helen/Ellen was married to a man named Charles, who traveled, and she had more than one son.

I found this record on FamilySearch and it matches beautifully!

What I like about this record:

  1. I like that it shows the use of the name Ellen. Helen seems to have gone by that name on a day to day basis in her adult years.
  2. I like the husband’s name of Charles. For some reason the Scott also sounds familiar but none of my records show anything for that so I’m not going to put stock in that one.
  3. Liverpool, England as the place of marriage. The Menzies family spent a lot of years in Liverpool. It makes perfect sense that Helen would have been married there.
  4. Father listed as John Menzies. Helen’s father is John Menzies! It would be more extraordinary if John had a more unique name but I like that John matches.
  5. Birth year of 1833. I have Helen’s birth year to be around 1832 because of her entry in the 1841 England census.

What I don’t like about this record:

  1. I don’t like that the mother isn’t listed. I indexed British marriage records for FamilySearch though, so I know that they don’t show the mother on the record. What they do show is Father and father’s occupation. If I look at the microfilm and find Sawyer listed as John’s occupation, I’ll be 100% convinced.
  2. I don’t like the date of 1853. Helen isn’t living with her parents in the 1851 census, so where was she?

The next obvious step was to look at the 1861 census which would have been the first after Helen and Charles’ wedding.

What I like about this record:

  1. Helen’s birth year and birthplace. I have a Christening record for Helen in Morton by Thornhill, Dumfries, Scotland. So this fits perfectly.
  2. Jane as the name of the oldest daughter. As per the Scottish naming patterns I posted about previously, this fits perfectly. Helen’s mother’s name was Jane Ferris-Menzies.
  3. James as the name of the oldest son. If you look at the marriage record above. James Scott is listed as Charles’ father. This also fits in with the naming pattern.
  4. John as the name of the second son. Again, the naming pattern fits. John was Helen’s father.
  5. Believe it or not, I like that Charles isn’t listed on this census. I know that sounds weird but from William’s letter, I got the impression that Charles was away from home for business a lot. In 1863 he was away from home when one of his sons passed away. So his absence fits in with what I know about the family. It would also make sense if the 29 year old John Scott is Charles’ brother and is living with the family while Charles is gone.
  6. Living in a suburb of Liverpool. Again in William’s letter, he mentions that Helen lives in Liverpool and he wants to visit her or have her come to him.

What I don’t like about this record:

  1. There isn’t anything I don’t like about this record. It’s all very helpful!

Another thing about this census record, it shows that Helen’s 2 older children were born in Liverpool and her youngest in Scotland. The 29 year old John Scott is also listed as being born in Scotland. If he is really Charles’ family, then this would make sense on why they followed the Scottish naming patterns so closely.

An Early Start

Posted on by Kathleen

I’m going to be doing a little genealogy today and I can’t wait! I think I’m getting somewhere with all those Mays ancestors. Or at least, I’m getting somewhere with the group I’m working on now. I don’t have much time today though because we’re in a dash to finish setting up our Christmas Village. That’s right we’re setting up our Christmas Village this week. The original plan was to start November 1st but we’re even running late on getting started early. The village is our biggest project at Christmas, and it’s also the one that we enjoy the most. After barely getting it up in time last year, we decided to start November 1st this year. Unfortunately, we didn’t know then that this would be our busiest year in a long time! We’ve been traveling fools for family events. Just when we get settled from one, we’re dashing to another. So now that we’re finally back in our grove from our trip to New Jersey, we’re about to jet off to Miami for Thanksgiving!

That’s right, I said Thanksgiving in Miami! How fun is that going to be? My brother has purchased his first house and he’s decided to host Thanksgiving this year. It’s been a long time since we’ve all been together for the holidays so we’re jumping on the chance!

2009 Christmas Village

This is a panorama view of last years village. It’s technically in 3 parts.

2010 Christmas Village in progress

Here’s where we’re at right now. We’ve got 2 villages in place and all of the buildings have lights. My next step is to set up the “Forest” which is all the trees in front of the bureau. Our hope is to have it done before we leave for Miami. I’ll let you know if we make it!