Meet Sylvester Snow - my great great great grandfather.
Sylvester Snow was born in 1791. His son was Gilbert Spencer Snow. And Gilbert Spencer Snow's daughter was Edna Irene Snow. Edna's son was Gilbert Samuel Harriman. Gilbert Harriman's son was Gale Harriman. Gale Harriman's daughter is me, Linda.
I love this photograph. Left is my great grandmother Annie Laurie Miller at age 6, she's the one with her hand on the dog's back. Annie was a red head. Her younger sister is Etta.
Center of the photograph are Annie's parents (my great great grandparents) Silas Benjamin Miller and his wife Clara Tucker Miller, and baby Maude. To Clara's right is their son George.
When I was 10 years old I used to play cards with Uncle George and Great Grandpa Bill. They were very old men then. We played for pennies. They always won, mostly because they cheated us little kids. And much later I learned about the card cheating from Grandma who watched those two old men pass cards to each other under the table. That really makes me laugh now.
In the background right are my great, great, great grandparents Merriman Tucker born 1819, and his wife Atha Reeves Tucker. In the foreground are Clara Tucker's brother John Warren Tucker and his wife Edea. I met a cousin online and was given this photograph.
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The photograph was taken around 1919. Seated is my great great great grandfather George Washington Miller, born 1826. Standing at his side is his son Silas Benjamin Miller. Silas' daughter was Annie Laurie Miller Ashley. Annie's daughter was Leatha Ashley Harriman. Leatha's son is Gale Harriman. I am Gale Harriman's daughter Linda.
Meet William Ashley born 1827 in New York. He is also my great great great grandfather. His son was George Ashley. George Ashley's son was Willie Arthur Ashley. Willie's daughter was Leatha Ashley Harriman. Leatha's son is Gale Harriman, and I am Gale's daughter.
George Ashley my great great grandfather. Cool photograph eh?
This is a photograph of my great great great grandparents Moses Sperry 2, and his wife Sally Chaffee Sperry 4. The photograph was taken July 4, 1857. Their 11 year old daughter Martha 1 my great great grandmother stands in front of her father Moses. Moses was born in 1813, and Sally in 1815. Their names, birthdates, birthplaces, along with their children's birth information appear in the Sperry Family Bible. Martha's daughter was Edna. Edna's son was Gilbert Harriman. Gilbert's son is Gale Harriman, and I am Gale's daughter.
Hi Linda
ReplyDeleteWow, that is amazing the amount of history you have about your family. The old photos are fascinating. Did you do all the searching for the information yourself?
Shelley
Vancouver, Canada
Hi Shelley--
ReplyDeleteIn May 2006 my parents brought me two boxes of old old photos. They hadn't been opened for the better part of 40 years.
What a surprise! Nearly all of the photos had names and sometimes dates and locations on the back.
In the bottom of the box was geneology work done by my grandfather's first cousin during the 1960s---following the Snow line back to England 1303.
I was inspired and took up the cause and followed the Harriman line back 10 generations . . . until I hit the jackpot and met up with the Harriman Family Association in Massachusetts--speeding up the research and going back to England 1499.
Currently, I am transcribing my great grandmother Edna's personal diaries from 1902 as a young bride until her death in 1959. Just holding them in my hands and turning the pages is like having a visit with her. I remember her as a very old woman in a nursing home. Reading her diaries, I get to know her during her lifetime!
I finished 10 years of great grandma Edna's diaries and there's a lot of work ahead of me. Nonetheless, I'm retiring at the end of this year and will have more time to devote to transcription.
Just when I thought I had combed through every last photo, I discovered more new cousins online and we continue to share stories and photos.
Last summer I went home for a visit, and helped my Mom clean out a storage room. We found another suitcase full of old old photos--some are people I don't know, but I am able to make some assumptions and date photos by clothing, and sometimes can pin point locations.
In 2007 we held a reunion in Lebanon MO, with 51 cousins I met online (we all had the same great great grandparents from Lebanon). I wrote a 100pg book for the reunion using the photos and stories provided by all. Everyone got a copy of the book. It was a magical moment meeting those cousins in person.
Our 2007 reunion was based on a 1902 reunion photograph. In the center of the old reunion photograph was Mary Elizabeth my great great grandmother, surrounded by her adult children including my great grandfather Howard.
I didn't know the names of all of great grandfather Howard's brothers and sisters . . . and by golly, their names were written on the back of the 1902 reunon photo. I researched each of his brothers and sisters, and one by one I found living cousins online.
I can't believe how lucky we are to have met each other, and now we have hundreds of amazing old family photos and stories.
In the fall of 2006, I met a cousin Harold, age 89. I flew to his home in Fla. and spent several days reviewing old photos, and making audio recordings. I transcribed the recordings and they became an important part of the 100pg. book. Harold passed away in 2009. I can't open a photo album without thinking about all he contributed to the book and reunion. Harold was our MC at the 2007 reunion. Golly, we had a great time.
Linda-
ReplyDeleteYou are so fortunate to have such an extensive collection of identified photos and records of your ancestors! And it's great that you were able to do research on your own and organize a reunion. I always love genealogy, and tried on-and-off for 30 years to find information on any ancestors. That you can trace that many lines is amazing! I was most interested in my mother's ancestors, and was able to piece together some missing pieces in 1996 when I went to Germany and met up with a third cousin. She had traced that line back to the 1500's. The internet and Ancestor.com were a big help. But I probably won't be able to get any further than I have, because the hunt always ends with the tracing back to the old countries of origin. :-)
-Pam
How cool is that. My house was built in 1890 however it's not a farmhouse. Way cool.
ReplyDeleteI am also a direct descendent of Silas Benjamin Miller and actually have a copy of the same identical picture you have. I would love to chat sometime.
ReplyDeleteHi Linda,
ReplyDeleteI am wondering if you are the same person I found on Flickr. My name is Dan Sander and I am a descendant of the Harrimans. Matthew/Leonard/Philip/Moses/Francis/Vanda Jane, who is my 2nd great grandmother. You have some really great pictures. I went to see Vanda's gravestone. She married Ezra Cooper and settled in Mankato Minnesota.
Would love to hear from you.
Dan Sander
Washington State