It all started with a Prince

They say that every story has a shred of truth to it and you should never completely dismiss it. I have a Thomas Henry Sheridan born Oct 15, 1843, in Wheatland, Monroe County, New York.  He would have been my half 3x great Uncle. His mother, Mary, died in August 1849 and then his father Michael Sheridan died sixteen months later in December 1850. Suddenly, this small six-year-old boy lost everything dear to him. I next find Thomas in the 1855 Wheatland, Monroe County, New York census living in the Harris Rogers household. He is 11 years old and is listed as a laborer. The enumeration date is June 5, 1855.   A hand-written missive by a contributor on FamilySearch states "that young Thomas was placed in a Catholic home/orphanage and attended school there. At 14 years, he ran away from the home and started to walk to New Orleans to see his uncle (no name) who ran a lighthouse there. When Thomas was 17, he was drafted into the Rebel Army. When camped near the Union Army he sl...

My dad, William Nathaniel Porter (October 10, 1917 - December 17, 1970) enlisted with the Army Reserves from Flandreau, SD back in 1940 and was a part of the 147th Field Artillery division. When he returned home in 1945 after three years in the South Pacific campaign, the maternal uncle that he was named for, Nathaniel B Dillingham, gave him a pair of Black Hills gold cufflinks that had been handed down to him. Dad moved to Michigan later that year and married my mom in 1946. On his wedding day he wore those cufflinks. And so, a tradition was started. I am the middle of five daughters. Dad was alive to walk #2 daughter down the aisle wearing those magical cufflinks but unfortunately passed away before any of the others were married. That oldest son-in-law wore them when he walked the other four daughters down the aisle. Since that time, the fathers of any granddaughters have worn them to walk her down the aisle. And if it was a grandson who was the groom, he has worn them. We even have...

Jay Shepard Porter (my dad's first cousin 1x removed) was born on  April 7, 1898, in Salem , Oregon the eldest son of George Washington and Anna Mary (McGowan) Porter. His father had traveled from Iowa to Minnesota to Oregon as a young man and as an adult earned his livelihood as a farmer. Jay’s early years were shaped by the routines and responsibilities of rural life and the labor required before the onset of modern machinery. By about 1916, at the age of eighteen, Jay made a significant transition, leaving the family farm and relocating to the Multnomah district of Portland . This move reflected a broader pattern seen in many young men at that time who sought opportunity in larger towns. In Portland, Jay took employment as an express delivery truck driver, serving local industries such as the region’s woolen mills. The occupation “express driver” or “express truck driver” indicates work in the early commercial delivery system between manufacturers and customers, before modern ne...

...He was a farmer and lived the quiet and peaceful life of a tiller of the soil, winning respect and esteem of the community in which he lived... I have generations of farmers in my ancestry. They farmed to survive. They did the work daily with a serenity that comes from communicating with nature. A feeling of a sense of pride for a job well-done. Oliver Harris was born November 18, 1824, in Stamford, Bennington County, Vermont on the family farm. He was the eldest of the eight children of Eseck and Prudence (Pratt) Harris.  He married Lucy E Wade (born October 28,1791 in Vermont) the daughter of Ransom and Lucy (Blandin) Wade. They were married February 8, 1842, in Stamford, Vermont. They were the parents of nine children: Joseph, Lewis, Lucy, Amanda, Salem, Everett, James, Martin and Minnie.  In 1865, his father Eseck deeded the family farm in Stamford to Oliver with the following stipulations:  the farm would yearly give his parents Eseck and Prudence the use of one c...

Phyllis Maxine (Porter) Drummond was my dad's older sister. She was born February 20, 1915, in Manning, Carroll County, Iowa the oldest child of Harry Edward and Nellie (Dillingham) Porter. Many of my memories of her are not always complimentary. She could be sharp spoken; always had to dominate the conversation and many times she would make comments that would hurt your feelings. But I think she loved her family, especially her two younger brothers. She told many stories about their years living in South Dakota and Iowa, but those are for another missive.                                                                                                      Harry, Bill, Phyllis ca1919               ...

Sometimes brick walls just won't fall. Back in the early 2010's I found this newspaper article while researching my Sheridan family in the Perrinton, Gratiot County, Michigan area. In the Maple Rapids Dispatch newspaper Friday, 1 June 1888 Vol X #35 Pg8 Col2 - from the Perrinton Mirador:  "Two sharp looking boys arrived on the noon train today, from Detroit, sent by the St. Anthony orphan asylum, to find homes with Michael Sheridan and Thos. Holland." Michael Sheridan was my great-grandfather, and Thomas Holland was his brother-in-law. Note: Thomas Holland was the town sheriff. With no 1890 census available, I found the 1894 Michigan census and found a 14-year-old male named Frank Morrison listed with the Patrick Sheridan family. His relationship to head of household showed adopted boy. He was born in Michigan ca 1880 and both of his parents were listed as unknown. Patrick Sheridan was my 2x great grandfather and why was young Frank listed living with him instead of ...