Back by popular demand

Sorry it's been a while since you last heard from me...

I had a nice Thanksgiving holiday. Kelly and I took a turkey and a dozen other bits and pieces along to our ward's dinner. There were 26 happy and well-fed people there. On the Saturday, Ian and I ventured up to Harlem for dinner at Sylvia's famous soul food mecca on Lennox Avenue. I had her special recipe ribs - more delicious than anything has any right to be - with potato salad and black-eyed peas. The atmosphere was terrific, music and families, and we even got to meet Sylvia!

I've been doing some Christmas shopping, trying not to freeze to death (Ian can attest that I came very close last night!) and just generally being very excited about Christmas and getting ready to go home. Oh and I was offered another job at EMI, but I turned it down again. I don't want to risk my resident status in England (for university tuition) by taking a permanent job abroad, but it was nice to know I was very much their first choice. My friend Joanne has moved out of our team to a different job within our department, so it should mean more responsibility for me from now on. I'm pleased about that.

The very defnition of good-lookin'

Lucy's Berlin pictures are finally on the web.

What Bovees look like

There is a family tree on Rootsweb that includes Cornelius Bovee and Hannah Pettis and their children, including great-grandfather George. There was a note to say that the creator of this entry, Richard Rhode of Minnesota, has a photograph of her. So I just emailed and asked if he'd mind sending me a copy. Turns out it's a family portrait with Cornelius, Hannah and their youngest son Truman.

I recall, Central Park in fall...

Thanks to Dad for suggesting a trip up to the observation deck of the GE Building in Rockefeller Plaza! Ian and I went during lunch yesterday, still in time to see the beautiful autumn colours in Central Park. It was a perfectly clear day, almost too bright. We also had a terrific view of the Empire State Building. We took loads of pictures, here at the best ones. There are also some pictures of Lauren, who was in New York this past weekend.

Why I don't just love my family, I really like them as well: Reason 1

My birthday was 1 October, and I just received a birthday card from Stephen. The front of the card reads: Birthday, Birthmonth, I was close. Enclosed with the card is a keyring with my initials GB in big gold, glossy letters. And the message in the card reads: One year older and yes... still an Ol' Git! I also saw this keychain and had to go back and pick it up. After all, who couldn't use a Del-Boyesque personlized key chain." Thank you, Stephen! I love it.

Stephen invariably reads my posts about three weeks after I've written them, so most of you probably miss the pithy comments he leaves. This one is my favourite, all the way at the bottom.

Guess what I have

Do you remember the faded picture of John and Ellen Ducie and baby Moina in some publication detailing his many achievements? Well, it turns out there was an original photograph, and Bob had it. And he gave it me!!!!! What a treasure. And it belongs to me. Dad, you can have it . . . but you'll have to prise it from my cold, dead hand.

Bob gave me one other picture to keep, of grandma Bobby and a little bubba named Bruce. She wrote on the back: Bruce & Mama 7/20/47. Look at all that hair! Seems to be a Bovee trait.

I also have about 15-20 pictures I borrowed to copy. There are some nice pictures of Phyllis and her children. Bob always seems to have a cheeky little grin on his face, it's really sweet. There are some of great-grandfather Alfred and Ann LeDuc. There are pictures of Evelyn as a baby and with Phyllis's family. And there are some pictures of grandma and her sisters as children; there is even a picture of a two-year-old Phyllis pushing her dolly pram around the back garden of their house in Montana. Here is one I scanned already. From left to right: Mary, Phyllis, a friend, grandma Bobby, and another little street urchin, probably in Jackson Heights. I love the grin on grandma's face. Aren't they lovely, all three of them! Click on the pictures to make them bigger.

Boston: part 4

I spent the weekend in Boston staying with Bob. I left Friday morning and had the afternoon to spend at the archives. I researched some vital records and then headed up to the Charlestown branch of the Boston Public Library. I thought they might have a local history and genealogy section. I was wrong. They had few books of slides with old views of Charlestown and I got to see two or three pictures of Main Street as it would have been in Michael O’Brien’s time. It certainly wasn’t worth the schlep from the T Station. Oh well. I think the Main Public Library or the local historical society might be a better bet. (I’m trying to write this on the way back into New York. The highways in the Bronx are horrific; Basra to Baghdad is probably a smoother ride!)

Later I met up with Bob and after dinner I got him to fish out all his pictures and family papers. He had a biography piece on Alfred O’Brien from a book entitled “History of Montana.” We'll have to locate the book when we go to Montana. It's quite long, so I'll email the text of the article. The information on his parents is mostly fantasy. Bob and I have a theory about this. Phyllis had told Bob that she was brought up as a Protestant and that when she married his father, she had to convert to Catholicism. Odd, as both of Alfred’s parents were definitely Catholic. Perhaps when he went off to Lehigh University to study engineering, he realized that his social and carers prospects were better if he weren’t a Catholic. Then he went off to Montana where he married Moina Ducie in a Roman Catholic ceremony - well, her Irish parents would have seen to that - but the article clearly makes every attempt to expunge his Irish famine immigrant background. Perhaps this explains why neither Bobby or Phyllis new anything of their aunts and uncles… Alfred had become somewhat estranged from them. By 1928 he was in Connecticut and then New York, that’s not so far from his family in Massachusetts and yet there seems to have been little contact. The article also has some useful - and I assume relatively accurate -information about his siblings. One sister was married to an artists. Perhaps this is our Boston Public Library fellow!

Saturday, we drove to New Bedford. We stopped first at the public library where I spoke to the chap at the Genealogy Department. He told me that Frank Paul's original name could be Paulinho, rather than him having dropped it completely. He told me that he may have come to New Bedford without his family, as a cabin boy on a whaling ship, especially if he had an older brother who was also a crewman. I told him that Frank was from Pico and he said that there are only twelve parishes and that the Church has microfilmed all their baptismal records, so it wouldn't be impossible to find him. The Azorean records list the child's name, parents and godparents, and grandparents, so it would be a real find! They had copies of the Catholic St.Mary's Church records, so we looked up both of Frank Paul's marriages and the baptisms of some of his children. They give the child's middle name which often wasn't recorded on the civil records and the godparents for each child. I have a photocopy of my gt-gt-grandmother Mary Ann's baptismal record from 1859. We went to Frank Paul's address from the 1900 and 1910 census, 128 Achushnet Avenue, but while many of the old Victorian clapboard houses in the neighborhood have survived, Frank's house has been replaced. We also didn't have much luck at the cemeteries, but I now have the contact information so I will phone them on Monday.

We had dinner with some of Bob's friends that evening, which I really enjoyed. It was nice to spend some time getting to know Bob. I have so little extended family, so it's a real treat to talk to someone who knows us and our background. He loaned me a lot of pictures to scan, so I will let you know when you can look at them on my flickr account.

Some good news

Most of the female names I’ve researched in Boston and New Bedford have been extracted and the names and dates entered in Familysearch. None of the ordinances had been done yet, except for just one or two names where the baptism has been done. This was really frustrating as I had wanted to do the temple work for all these women. I was afraid that they would be irretrievable. So I made a list of them all and took it with me to the temple on Thursday to see what could be done. The temple recorder told me that if I bring all the names prepped as a Temple Ready file, he can print the ordinance cards there and I can do all the work. I was so happy I was literally jumping for joy right there in the office. (I realise that isn’t really the done thing in the temple, but perhaps I’ll be forgiven…) Most of these names are children of Michael O’Brien and his sisters. The one I’m most pleased about is my own great-great grandmother Ellen Mulherin. Her baptism was done in the London temple in 2003, but I will be able to do her endowment and seal her to her parents. And on the subject of Ellen, I have a real treat for you, and will post it as soon as I can get it scanned!

Boston: part 3

I went to Boston again last week. I found Michael O'Brien's will at the Probate Court - they just handed me the original. It's only one page. He left everything to be split equally between his seven children. There's a court document that lists the names and addresses of all seven, which gave me the married name of two of his daughters. His total estate was worth $6,360.24. I tried one of those online old money calculators and it comes out as anything between $75,000 and $250,000. It all depends on whether you compare the consumer price indices or the increase in per capita income, something, blah, blah, I don't know.

I couldn't find anything at the Boston Public Library on Maurice Flynn, so I went up to Holy Cross Cemetery and wandered around in the wind and rain, but managed to find the family grave just as the rain let up. I got some good pictures. And in the evening I went to the Boston temple to do the endowment for Eliza Roche there in her adopted home. I've been in touch with Bob and I'm going back again this weekend to stay with him.

Mary Costello Ducie Collier?

Grandma wrote to Wayne County, Ohio requesting a death record for Mary Ducie, but they responded saying no record was made. They said this was common, but I thought it rather odd, especially around 1900. So last night I was looking in Familysearch for any record of her, and I found an extracted marriage in 1879 in Wayne County, Ohio for William Collier and Mary Ducy. This is two years after her husband Patrick died in 1877. I then looked up this William Collier in the 1880 census to check the age of his bride. He is listed as 45, his wife Mary as 65 and born in Ireland. She's the right age and how many Mary Ducys could have been floating around Wayne County, Ohio. So I shall see if I can get ahold of the death record for Mary Collier to see if she was born Mary Costello. I had also thought it odd that both her daughters upped and moved to Montana and abandoned her in Ohio on her own. Perhaps they didn't.

Vertigo Tour 2005

Ian and I were so high up in the arena last night, right at the front of the balcony, that vertigo was very nearly was the word. The show was amazing. It was my first big arena show. I sang along with 20,000 people. The stage was reallly cool, it had an elliptical walkway. Keane played about six or seven songs, and Tom Chaplin's beautiful voice filled the huge space. U2 can play like nobody I've seen. And I know Bono is the big star and he wrotes thought-provoking poetry, but I think The Edge is the best thing in that band. OK, they're all amazing. A bit of politics from anybody else would be cloying, but from them it's OK. They put their time and their money where their mouths are and actually try and do something to improve the lives of the world's impoverished and forgotten peoples. We certainly got our money's worth. U2 played for well over 2 hours and we both heard our favourite songs. It's amazing the memories that come up with different songs, the Gulf War, boarding school, things going back half my life ago.

Jonathan gets to grips with history

As they're reading a bedtime story about dinosaurs, Jonathan says to his Granny:

I know what the Jurassic period is - that was a long, long time ago. I know a lot of things about a long, long time ago. And I was only born in 1999!!

You've never had it so good

Have you noticed my new links on the right hand side? There's some thrilling stuff. Do go exploring!

Genevieve, U 2 shall go to the ball

As of this morning, I am the proud possessor of a ticket for the U2 show at Madison Square Garden next Monday. I've never been to such a huge show and what a way to start, with band a like U2. I've been listening to them as long as I can remember. And the opening act is Keane, a British band who write beautiful songs. I can't believe I'm getting both in one go. Hurrah for me. I'm really quite chuffed.

Ten Keys to Understanding Isaiah

The Prophet has asked us to read the entire Book of Mormon before the end of this year (read this). I started a bit late so I'm a little behind the schedule, but I've read to 2 Nephi 9 and it's going well. I can honestly say that I'm enjoying it as well as learning from it. I encourage you all, dear readers, to do the same. I especially implore my beloved family members; I promise you can make time if you try. You too Stephen; you could have family scripture study with Vincent! Teach him to say "remember, remember" and "repent" as well as "hello" and "who's a pretty boy then".

The Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi always present a challenge, but church leaders have told us that these are some of the most important passages of scripture for our times, and it is imperative that we study and understand these prophesies. While researching my recent sunday school lessons on the Second Coming, I found an article written by Bruce R. McConkie called "Ten Keys to Understanding Isaiah". I promise you will find this helpful.

Boston: part 2

I went up to Boston again this weekend. Last time I was a tourist, this time I was on a mission! I had two goals: find naturalisation records for Frank Paul and Michael J O'Brien and confirm to the identity of everyone buried in the O'Brien family plot at Holy Cross Cemetery.

Friday: I went to the National Archives (you know, the guys who have the Declaration of Independence) New England regional office to look for naturalisation records. The building was way out in Waltham, at the end of the bus line and then a couple miles walk. I can't be sure about the Michael O'Brien records I found: there were three possibles which I narrowed down to one most likely. I definitely found Frank Paul's petition for citizenship in which he renounces his loyalty to Luis I, King of Portugal. I found out his date of birth, but, even better, he signed the document himself. My great-great-great-grandfather wrote this:

I met Bob for dinner, he picked me up in his new hybrid car - it was very exciting for me - and we went to the North End, the Italian neighbourhood. We traded family stories, well he told stories and I related dates and facts that I've turned up. He was ever so excited to discover that his great-great grandfather was Portuguese! We had a really nice visit. He is a lot like Dad, chatty and friendly and he gets excited about things. And he invited me to stay with him when I go back in a couple weeks, so we can talk a lot more about the family.

Saturday: I spent the day at the Massachusetts Archives looking at birth, marriage and death records. I found the birth and death records for all ten of Michael O'Brien's children. I also confirmed the relationship to Michael of the three non-O'Brien's he was buried with:

- Maurice Flynn (age at burial: 58years) - husband of Michael's sister Mary. Like Michael and his sisters, Maurice was born in Ireland. A painter by trade, he married Mary O'Brien in 1864.
- Benjamin Flynn (1 month) - Maurice and Mary's son.
- Isabella Caldwell (3 years) - daughter of Michael's sister Annie and George W. Caldwell. Isabella had a twin sister Rose. I found her parents marriage in 1869 and Annie's death in 1893.

I spent hours at the archives, cranking the wheels of the manual microfilm readers. I had achy limbs and back yesterday! It was such a successful day. I have at least two more days worth of work to do there, looking for the rest of Mary and Annie O'Brien's children as well as the marriages/deaths/children of Frank Paul's many offspring. I can't wait to go back.

My best friend has left town and i'm really bummed

Lauren moved home today. I'm not terribly pleased about this. I came to New York because I wanted to be with people like me. Although I did meet some terrific people, my first eight months here were pretty quiet, and then I met Lauren. She has been the center of my life here in this city. We've done so many things together, although so much of our time has been spent just sitting around her apartment, watching movies, listening to music, talking over things. And that has been the most fun. I'm not very good at writing, or even talking, about my feelings so this will have to do for now. Perhaps I'll write more in the coming days.

We met this morning for something to eat and to say goodbye. I took some pictures of our little gang. Aren't we adorable?!

Boston: part 1

I shall be spending quite a bit of time in Boston this season. I have two family history research trips coming up in the next month, so it was nice to spend this past weekend there as a tourist. Lauren and I decided to throw caution to the window and try out the super cheap Chinatown bus service. It wasn't scary and our bus didn't blow up even once. Myung Lee kindly provided the accomodation. So, armed with a pop-up map of Boston we set out to explore. Friday night we had dinner and dessert off Harvard Square. Saturday we walked the Freedom Trail, taking in all the old burial grounds and churches of colonial Boston. Sunday we had lunch at Ye Olde Union Oyster House, purportedly the oldest restaurant in America, and then spent the afternoon in Cambridge. I think we were a bit disappointed with Harvard. I guess I thought everyone would have some aura of genius about them. But they looked like any other group of students playing Sunday afternoon frisbee on the college lawn and listening to, frankly, stupid music. I think perhaps when I do my human rights course next year I'll write my thesis on why playing stupid music in public violates another person's human rights. Then I'll submit it to the UN for international codification.

I took eleven photographs. Please view at your leisure.

Portuguese feast and Irish famine

I'm branching out in my family history research. It's time to do a little background reading for historical context. There are at least three families that were Irish famine immigrants so I've found a couple books about the famine and immigration. I'm also getting a book about the Portuguese in New Bedford to learn more about Frank Paul's family. I'm also going to the New York Public Library research divisions up on 42nd street to look at reference materials and some old maps of New Bedford to find the cemeteries and streets mentioned on vital records. I love this sort of thing, echoing libraries, dusty archives, pouring over documents looking for little nuggets of information. It's worth all the sneezing!

Back in the USSA

Arrived back in New York last night. Got to bed at 12.30 and, of course, was wide awake at 6am. I didn't used to suffer much from jet lag when I was coming back and forth for school/university, but the advancing years are taking their toll. Can't sleep comfortably on the plane anymore either. Moan, moan, moan.