Blogiversary 2013

Gosh, it has been four years. Life has taken me a bit away from it all. working full time. I think I said the same thing last year.

I enjoy genealogy, I just need to have more time to be able to do it all. My main goal in the blog in the beginning was trying to connect to any Raeburns out there in the genealogy world. If I got lucky I would catch up with the Ireland Raeburn cousins. So far...they are all hiding. I think we are an obscure bunch. I have researched about everything I can get my hands on whether virtual or real in terms of documents and research to no avail. The trail still stops short of really finding ancestor relatives or a trail that leads to just exactly where. I can feel it in my bones where they came from. Just no'proof". Bummer. So I will keep writing from time to time, but maybe not about those elusive folks of mine. Maybe I should throw some of that poetry I write in as filler!lol. Just thought I should say Hi, and thank you to the couple of folks that stopped by to say Happy Blogiversary, Grant Davis of The Stephen Sherwood Letters and Jim of HiddenGenealogyNuggets

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Ancestor Name Roulette; Playing Games

1) What year was one of your great-grandfathers born? Divide this number by 50 and round the number off to a whole number. This is your "roulette number."
2) Use your pedigree charts or your family tree genealogy software program to find the person with that number in your ancestral name list (some people call it an "ahnentafel"). Who is that person, and what are his/her vital information?
3) Tell us three facts about that person in your ancestral name list with the "roulette number."
4) Write about it in a blog post on your own blog, in a Facebook status or a Google Stream post, or as a comment on this blog post.
5) If you do not have a person's name for your "roulette number" then spin the wheel again - pick a great-grandmother, a grandparent, a parent, a favorite aunt or cousin, yourself, or even your children!

1) My Great-grandfather James Byard Wheeler was born in 1852. Divided by 50, it brings a number of 37.04 rounded to 37.
2) This brings up interestingly enough Susan Green(e) on my husband’s side as I have our entire lines on one program/file. (Does anyone else do it this way? I started it that way and have never separated them)
Her vital information is as follows: She was born on July 14, 1815, location unknown. She died March 1, 1883 in Jefferson County New York and is buried in Sherwin Bay Cemetery in Brownville. Interestingly enough her burial records do not jive with the birthdate I have which I probably got from a family member. (I have not spent enough time on this family) The cemetery records say she was age 73, 08 months and 17 days at death, placing her birthdate at June 14, 1809. Needs more research!
3) Three facts….Hmmm could be fantasy, noting how I got the information in the first place and NEED to do the research myself (once again because I have obsessed over my own line) 1: She is the wife of Martin Williams and together the had 2: four known daughters: Sarah, Julia, Anna and Vina.3: She may have or not come to Michigan with her husband where he purchased land in Ottawa County Michigan, but never apparently settling. Their daughter Julia at least did, she is the 2nd Great grandmother of my husband. She has been noted to be thedaughter of Samuel Greene and granddaughter of the Revolutionary War General Nathanael Greene….but I only HEARD this, and until I see proof in document….just folklore!

Clearly embarrassing lol…how I have meandered away from my genealogy…coming back only to find there is so much more to do. How to divide the very little time after the boss lets me go home at the end of the day!

Williams first farm?

Williams first farm? C 1851

The agricultural census for Hamilton Twp, Northumberland Co Ontario lists William on page 135 #20.
He is listed next to land holder [Robert] R Weir who has 40 acres on con 2 lot 8. It appears as though the census taker was confused and started to list Wm as holder of the 40 acres....Could R. Weir have sold a small piece of his land to Wm to farm?

Wm Rayborn cons 2 lot 8. / 5 acres held & under cultivation / 1-1/4 a under crops & 3-1/4 a under pasture / 1 a of wheat & 6 bushels produce / 3/4 a of potatoes & 50 bushels produce

A very small farm, but a start. R Weir held the land next to Wm, but Edward Weir lived on the land and is recorded so in the personal census. Robert lived close by.

Ireland family connections; Edward Weir is brother to Margaret Weir Reburn, who married John Reburn and lived in Corvacken Townland, Aughnamullen Parish in Monaghan Ireland.

Quebec the first stop

Where in Quebec did the Raeburn's first go? William & Margaret Raeburn's daughter Mary was born in the "Montreal area" c 1844.
Their daughter Margaret Ann was baptised in Chatham, Argenteuil Co Quebec in 1846.

Then there is Margaret Raeburn Livingston b c1786 Ireland.
She married John Livingston in Carrickmacross, Magheross Parish, Monaghan in 1818, close to the proposed townlands of Ireland William & Margaret lived-
It appears that the Livingstons were in Quebec by 1826 per census recording daughter Mary Livingston as born Quebec.
They lived in Terrebonne Quebec 1851 per census, next door to Patrick Hamill.
Patrick Hamill was listed as joint tenant with Wm Reaburn in 1824- Drumcunnion townland, Monaghan Tithe record.

Are the Livingston/Hamill families related to William Raeburn? Did William first bring his family to the "Montreal area" of Terrebonne Quebec to be near the Livingston's?

Reflections of the Captain

Friday sadly was my daughter in law’s father’s funeral. She and her family lost their rock, a much loved and cherished man. Ray was a resident of our small community all of his life, and was well known all around by all. He was a good man, and raised a family of five with his wife JoAnn of forty years. I watched Ray’s grandson, Torin [also my grandson of course] on Friday while they paid their respects. As I looked after Torin now almost two years old, and watched him play, it reminded me…..

I was five years old when my Grandpa Raeburn died. Not old enough to form vivid lasting memories of my own. Very, very few cameo appearances flash within my mind of him. I must rely on family members to tell the story of our very interesting patriarch. Many of those folks that could tell the story have come and gone, and few remain that can still tell me about the Captain. Miscellaneous photographs, newspaper clippings and a little oral folklore are what remain. No scrapbook of his life, or written accounts of his tales on the lakes. I am, a witness in the third person to his life, but will try in any event to put together a recollection of who this man was. In time. Not all to be done in just a day…..

Ernest Ferrier Raeburn died April 6, 1965 at his home in Sault Saint Marie, he was 82 years old. A then retired Great Lakes captain, father of five grown children, and husband to Ethel for fifty-two years; he was also granddad to eleven grandchildren and three great grandchildren. He was a grand story teller and weaved stories of adventures on the lake when he came home in the winter to his children, perhaps the townsfolk when he took his daily winter strolls around town. Ernest was raised on a farm in Ontario near Collingwood, and came to the Michigan Soo with his parents at age 16. He may have developed a love for the water visiting relatives in Collingwood, near the shipyards. I have been told he left home and joined an academy for sailing in Ontario, and as we know now later became a captain after a few years as a shipmate.

As I am told a large funeral was attended by not just his family and local friends, but also old lake captains and shipmates he knew. Remembrances of lake tales, and events of old times. Someone told me that my father, who was 46 years old at the time, was pacing back and forth (for what reason I am not aware) baring a ‘striking resemblance’ to Ernie. In my mind I tried to picture my grandfather, at 46 years old, in his captain’s uniform. I really should have written down the stories I was told, but at the time never thought I would want to be recalling the details. I was young, and we all know the young are foolish. I need someone to wave their magic wand and make those stories reappear! I have some work to do…perhaps, more to come : )

My sister Kim, my Dad and I, and Grandpa Raeburn at grandpa's house in the Soo.

Ethel, Ernie & the Titanic

Ethel and Ernie were just a few months away from getting married. The anticipation and excitement was in the air, the dress, the church, the dream of a life beginning. This was certainly a consuming vision in any bride’s dreams. Ernie would have to take time away from his job for the wedding, as he worked a bit far from their soon to be home in the Soo. They were to be married in St. Luke’s Cathedral in Sault, Ontario on July 6, 1912.

As the couple both worked through the months to the wedding, they woke to news one morning that would rattle the nerves of many, and send them to despair and grief. The world was small, and this was the kind of news that would reach around it quickly and hard.

The biggest ship ever built, with a reputation as the ‘Unsinkable’ dove to an icy grave at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, on its virgin voyage. Just a few days after it set sail from Southampton, England, the Titanic did the unthinkable. It sank on April 15, 1912 and took over 1500 of its passengers with it, only some 700 managed to survive the horror. We can only imagine the terror that went through the minds of those fated people that night. The frightening knowledge of fate of those left on the ship. The grief and pity of those who had to leave their loved ones behind as the lifeboats floated them away in the frigid night air.

What was the sentiment of the people around the world? Outrage, most definitively, the builders of the ship never had enough life boats to accommodate all of its passengers. The wealthy lives were regarded higher than any other passengers. People beginning new lives had them preempted by way of arrogance.

What was the sentiment of my grandparents, I wondered. Ethel, was a feisty outspoken young suffragist about to marry…. a steamship captain of the Great Lakes. Ernie, who had been sailing on the Great Lakes since 1905 as a first mate took his first command in that ill-fated year of 1912. Captain Ernest Raeburn took the helm of the City of Chatham, a passenger ship that sailed between Sault Saint Marie and the Blind River. He went on to sail the Great Lakes from The Superior through to the St Lawrence Seaway to Montreal for 46 years. The Great Lakes may not have been the treacherous Atlantic Ocean, but the lakes could take the lives of those who rode the waves just as cruelly.

Did Ethel wish Ernie had picked a different profession? Did the fate of the Titanic spark conversations of prudence, safety and….arrogance of man? Would they weather this life with strength and courage? Absolutely! Did I say Ethel was feisty? Outspoken? A strong woman that was able to keep up with this salty ol’ character….who would have never given up this love of the water, it flowed through his veins. Observances were made and lessons were learned and taught. She kept any fears in check. She lived their married life on land and raised a family, and when the ice froze the path he came home to her, every winter. And they never sank.

Time Machine Poetry! (oh yea-I write poetry)

I want to see what you see…

My magic carpet goes back in time
As the future will be told
Our history books in libraries abound
The prime destinations to behold

Now if I was driving, I’d take the back roads
to all of the places that little is known

Maybe I’ll stick close to residence-
No wish to be stuck
In some- medieval dominance

But the roaring twenties,
Ultimately destination one
My kind of party, in the dawn of expression.

Now the Renaissance, cannot be missed
No matter the year
Enlightenment is on the list.
In Plato’s time, air tense with political power
To much like the present
It would make me glower! 
[I may as well stay home in my corner and cower]

But In the end my passion plan
Is to see my blood in another land
Your trails stops cold in Ireland
In the year of eighteen hundred and ten

Who is your da, dear William?
Is it John or Henry, shall I ask again?
Before the famine to ship you took
The future there on is on the books
So to Monaghan off I go
To see from whom my blood does flow.