Grandma's Treasures

My last blog post was on April 9th. In it, I stated that grandma was doing very well, and we all hoped she'd be home from the nursing home soon. As it turned out, the only time she left the nursing home was to go to the hospital, and there she passed away on April 18th. She had suffered for the past two years, and we were glad for her sake, that when the end came, it came quickly. We held a beautiful memorial service for her, a celebration of life, with many of her children and grandchildren singing her favorite songs. Then we drove 4 1/2 hours to "take her home" to her the place she was born and raised; the place she wanted to be laid to rest.

As weeks passed, my mom and I began going through grandma's things, (she had lived with my mom and stepfather for the past year, when she wasn't in the nursing home) and oh, the treasures we found! While putting away her "underthings' we ran across her marriage certificate from 1947, that she swore she had lost! We discovered pictures in recipe boxes, newsclippings stuffed into nooks and crannys. Each of these items was like a little kiss from grandma, and slowly helped to heal the sadness of our loss. I miss you grandma, but am so glad your suffering has ended!

(This picture was among our finds... the first picture I've ever seen of grandma's mother-in-law, my great grandmother, Vernon McFann Malone.)

Reflections on the 4th

What a terrible blogger I am! It's not that I've slacked off on my research, on the contrary, I've made some very notable discoveries of late, but having the time to sit down with a clear head, and blog about these finds... well, that's where I'm having problems!

However, today being the 4th, and everyone's minds being on all things American, I've been thinking about the number of ancestors I've had who quite literally fought for the freedoms that we so take advantage of, and often abuse. I've thought about my Mayflower grandfather, William Brewster, who helped forge a new nation; my frontiersman grandfather, Richard Malone, who came to Ohio when it was still considered wilderness. Then there's James Hamilton Cummons, the confederate soldier, who ended up fighting for the union army.

I recently came across this photo from the Library of Congress website. It's description was as follows: Washington, Disctrict of Columbia, Hancock's Veterans Corps on F Street, NW Washington, DC. 1st US Volunteer Infantry.


You can see a larger version of the image here at the Library of Congress.

You can imagine my thrill when I looked at this picture at thought, "It is very possible that my great, great, GREAT grandfather is staring back at me from somewhere in this picture." This picture was taken in March of 1865, and according to muster rolls, James wasn't mustered out until July of '65. If you remember from an earlier post, the 1st US Volunteer Infantry was also known as the Galvanized Yankees. These were men who had enlisted in the confederate army, been captured, and sometime after being taken to a union prison camp, swore allegience to the north, and were placed far away from the war, usually in western forts.

James was just 17 when he enlisted, possibly the son of an Irish immigrant, but when the call came, he answered. I could go on listing grandfathers who fought in the Great War, and World War II, uncles who fought in Korea and Vietnam. Just in my own family tree, there are dozens of men and women who fought, struggled, and died to make a home in America. I hope and pray I never abuse those freedoms they held so dear.

Surname Saturday - Malone

Ah yes, yet another one of my Irish surnames that just magically appeared in America; this one in Ohio. From what I've gathered, my ancestor, Richard Malone (1790-1841) was somewhat of a frontiersman, which possibly explains why the records trail ends with him. But that's a story for another day.

About the surname Malone itself... there are many places on the web where the origins of the Malone name is explained.

Ó Maoileoin, literally grandson (or descendant) of the follower of John (possibly Saint John), is the original Irish form of this name and though originally anglicised as O Malone, we have here a name which is never found with its Gaelic prefix, the form Malone being the exclusive modern form of the name. The sept is a branch of the royal O Connors of Connacht who derive their name from Conchobhar (died 971), King of Connacht. The original Maoileoin from whom the clan takes its name was said to be a nephew of Roderic O Connor, the last Celtic monarch of Ireland. The main family of Malone was for centuries associated with the Abbey of Clonmacnoise, to which they furnished many abbots and bishops, for Clonmacnoise was for a time an independent See before being united with Ardagh. In the early Middle Ages, Clonmacnoise was the great centre of Christian scholarship by the River Shannon, south of Athlone.

You can read more about the Malone surname here .

On last year's glorious trip to Ireland, I found some Malones in Wicklow...



...and also in Clifden...

Matrilineal Mother's Day

I saw this challenge on Bill West's Blog - West in New England, and thought it would be a fun little exercise on Mother's Day. I'll admit, I tend to pay more attention to the male lines in my research, my father's Cummons line, and my maternal grandfather's Malone line in particular, and sometimes those wonderful women who contributed to my DNA are left behind. Bill's blog gave this challenge:

"Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:
1) List your matrilineal line - your mother, her mother, etc. back to the first identifiable mother. Note: this line is how your mitochondrial DNA was passed to you!

2) Tell us if you have had your mitochondrial DNA tested, and if so, which Haplogroup you are in.

3) Post your responses on your own blog post, in Comments to this blog post, or in a Note or status line on Facebook."

I have never had the DNA testing done, although I would love to, but here is my matrilineal line, at least as far as I've been able to uncover it on ancestry.com

Beginning with my mother:
Carolyn Y. Malone (1955- present) m. Robert A Cummons
Margaret Y. Evans (1928? - present) m. Eugene G Malone
Nannie Carroll (1895-1980) m. Harvey Evans
Phoebe Ellen Smith (1870-1957) m. John Morgan Carroll
Martha Osborn (1845 - ?) m. Peter Smith
Phebe Lewis (1811 - ??) m. Lewis Osborn
Rachel Henson (1783-1987) m. John Lewis
Mary Polly Lewis (1796-1880) m. James Henson
Winetry Winnie Henson (1760-1824) m. James Theophilus Lewis
Elizabeth (?) (1738_?) m. Paul Henson

This trail of ladies began in North Carolina, moved into Kentucky, and later to Ohio. What a celebration of mothers!!

Welcome!

Hi, I'm Angie. And this is the "re-launch" of my blog. My original blog, "Backstage with Puppet Girl", was random and scattered... and mostly full of useless ramblings. After a while, it just sat on the web, unused, unread... but finally! Inspiration has taken over!

I have spent the past 12 years digging around my family's history, mostly through the internet. I've never had the opportunity to travel and do the down and dirty digging... but I've been fortunate enough to uncover quite a bit of my past. Perhaps, if I can gather all of that information here, on my blog, I can share my findings with others... and maybe even uncover a few more branches to my tree!

My roots are mostly Irish... my father was a Cummons, my mother a Malone. Those are the two names I have mostly dug into. Other names in my tree include, from my paternal side, Tomblin, Workman, Patterson, and Sprouse; and from my mother's side, Evans, McFann, and Carroll.

So, please, come back often, as I hope to be posting stories, documents, and photos soon... so that all of you can be sure and know that my roots are, indeed, showing!