family history

Blessing Sisters Story Part 4
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Blessing Sisters Story Part 4

This is a multi-post series about the Blessing Sisters. Anna Eliza Blessing Winney is my 3rd great grandmother. You can see all of the posts in the series here: Blessing Sister Stories

Elizabeth Blessing Adjusts to Wisconsin

Although the farmland along the Mississippi River in the southwest corner of Wisconsin reminded her of home in Missouri, Elizabeth missed her brother and sisters terribly. Her father spent up to twelve hours each day in the mine, and when he returned home, he collapsed from exhaustion.

She distracted her mind by making the small cabin homey and ensuring Abraham was eating decent meals to keep his strength up for the grueling tasks. He had stressed his desire to bring her brother and sisters here, and she determined to have the house ready, no matter how cramped it might be.

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Blessing Sisters Story Part 3
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Blessing Sisters Story Part 3

This is a multi-post series about the Blessing Sisters. Anna Eliza Blessing Winney is my 3rd great grandmother. You can see all of the posts in the series here: Blessing Sister Stories

The Wisconsin Lead Mines, 1831

In that same letter Abraham wrote to is brother John in 1835 he said, “a man may be poor today and tomorrow be rich if he can be lucky.” Abraham had no idea what the life of a miner was like, or if he would be one of the lucky, but of all the opportunities for working men in the western territories, mining felt like the quickest possible way to bring his children back home with him.

In the fall of 1831, after saying goodbye to his son and three daughters who lodged at various homes around Palmyra, Missouri, Abraham traveled one hundred miles south to St. Louis where he boarded a steamboat for the three hundred and eighty mile trip upriver to where a new way of life awaited him.

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Blessing Sisters Story Part 2
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Blessing Sisters Story Part 2

This is a multi-post series about the Blessing Sisters. Anna Eliza Blessing Winney is my 3rd great grandmother. You can see all of the posts in the series here: Blessing Sister Stories

Restless Virginians

The Ohio-bound Blessings weren’t the only Virginians to feel the urge to move. Starting in mid-1825, when James Monroe’s presidency ended, Virginians were surprised by an unfamiliar status. “Four of the first five presidents were Virginians who guided the nation through its first three decades. But now, the political stature of Virginia declined on the national stage when no successors of ability emerged to replace the Founding Fathers.

The state had lost power in Congress because of population shifts. ‘What has become of our political rank and eminence in the Union?’ worried Benjamin Watkins Leigh. ‘Virginia has declined and is declining.’ (10) Continue reading →

Blessing Sisters Story Part 1
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Blessing Sisters Story Part 1

This is the first post in the Blessing Sisters story. Anna Eliza Blessing Winney is my direct ancestor. I’ve previously written posts about her son, Leonard James Winney and his wife, Elizabeth Wellman Winney.

The Blessing family in Virginia

When I first wrote this story in 2018, my limited knowledge of Abraham Blessing was that he ended up in Wisconsin Territory around 1830 with his young daughters, Elizabeth Jane and Anna Eliza, in tow, then abandoned them a few years later. I had the image of a cold man who was estranged from his parents and siblings and didn’t treat his daughters well.

There were very few records to find out more and stories passed down seemed to corroborate this image. Then, as they say, everything changed. In November 26, 2019, I was given access to a private collection of 6 original letters from Abraham Blessing to his family in Ohio, which has enriched this story considerably and shown me that my 4th great grandfather was the complete opposite of what I had imagined. Continue reading →

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Eleanor McGlothlen Kirkpatrick Newhouse “Grandma Newhouse” was kind of a badass

I can’t write all of the amazing things that happened to Grandma Newhouse in her 75 years in one post, so I’ll break it into multiple posts. To see all of the stories click this tag: Eleanor McGlothlen Kirkpatrick

Mabel Winney and Grandma Newhouse (2)

Grandma Newhouse with Mabel Wallberg abt 1903

Eleanor’s stories

I’m incredibly fortunate that my family loved to write their stories and interview their parents and grandparents to find out more about their lives and their families. I have a lot of stories thanks to Eleanor’s diary excerpts and The Grandma Newhouse Story. Continue reading →

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Agnes Geier Wulfestieg marries aboard a ship from Germany to Brazil

Agnes’ Story

1890s Agnes A Geier Wulfestieg in Santa Ana CA

Agnes A Geier Wulfestieg in Santa Ana CA, 1890s

Most of the story below was taken verbatim from Dorothy Beck’s genealogy source notes that were sent to me. I’ve added details about dates and places of their children being born as I’ve found more information through census data and other records. Continue reading →

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Amalia Bromander Walks from Finland to Sweden

Amalia Sofia Bromander

How I’m related

Amalia Sofia Bromander was born on March 1, 1822 in Botkyrka, Sweden. She married Ulrich Wallberg on July 27, 1850 in Hatuna, Uppsala, Sweden. Amalia is my mom’s great-great grandmother on her mother’s side.

This information is from “The Grandpa Wallberg story”: Continue reading →