genealogy

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How Elizabeth Blessing’s Inheritance Was Stolen (Part 1)

While writing the stories about my direct Blessing ancestors, Abraham and his children, I came across a tragic tale that befell Abraham’s siblings who joined their parents in Ohio in the early 1820s.

While each sibling had their share of misfortunes, the one I found the most reprehensible was how Elizabeth was robbed of her inheritance from her father Lewis Blessing. To get the full story, however, I need to start with Lewis’s death and Elizabeth’s brother and sister, John and Mary.

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Bringing Alice Schell Berger out of the shadows: 1868 thru 1885

Some women in my family tree lived extraordinary lives for their times. They traveled, worked, and had experiences that weren’t the norm for women of their day. Alice Deisher Schell is not one of those women. She had a nice middle class upbringing, and sustained that through her marriage.

She is the kind of person who normally wouldn’t be remembered when talking about your family history. Unlike some other women in my family tree, there are no “can you believe Alice did…” stories; no mysteries; and no secrets that were revealed when I was researching her life. Which is precisely why I wanted to write about her. She may not have done extraordinary things, but she is still someone I descend from. I wanted to learn what I could about her and bring her out of the shadows so she is not forgotten. Continue reading →

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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