It all started with a Prince

I spend a lot of time researching my side of the family and although I have researched and proven my mother's line to John Howland of the Mayflower and my father's Dillingham line back to Thomas Dillingham, the 9th great grandfather of the future King of England, via Lady Diana Spencer....this time I am focusing on my husband's maternal line of Stewart. Dan's Stewart line goes all the way back to Mary Stewart, Queen of Scots and beyond. Yes, that one. The one who was beheaded. The Stewarts of Lorne were descended from a son of John Stewart the last Lord of Lorne. From this family sprang the Stewarts of Appin who with Althole branches were considered in the Highlands as forming the clan, Stewart. The badge of the Stewarts was the Oak. The reason the first of the race was called Stewart or Stuart was because the aforementioned John was Lord High Stuart of Scotland to King Robert the Bruce.  Mary, Queen of Scots Robert Stewart the ancestor of the line here was born in Appi...

When Michael Sheridan arrived in America from Ireland in 1826, he settled in Rochester, Monroe County, New York where he plied his trade of blacksmithing. The nearest Catholic parish was St. Patrick's Church in Rochester, and it had been built in 1823, but by 1831 it was replaced by a second church on the same site, twice the size of the first. Michael probably would have been involved in helping to build the second church. In 1830 Michael was still in Rochester, Ward 5, Monroe County, New York. He was indexed as Richael Sharron in the census record which made it difficult to find him. (Always use different spellings when researching and look at the actual records).  By 1840 Michael is found in Wheatland, Monroe County, New York, about 19 miles southwest of Rochester. There was not a Catholic Church built in Wheatland until 1870.  In 1841, a meeting was held with the Catholic families of Wm. Tone, James W Early, Michael McDonald, Michael Sheridan , Patrick Rafferty, John O'Con...

A 'cousin' is a child of a parent's sibling. Some of us have only a few and some of us have many.  I was lucky enough to grow up knowing my first cousin's and even second cousins. My mom was the youngest of five living siblings out of nine. Michael, Rexford, Agnes, Alice and Lorraine. Between all of them, I was one of 15 total first cousins. Growing up, we met every year for Grandma's birthday and again during the summer for the Sheridan Reunion. And that didn't include weddings, funerals, other family events or taking a drive 'down home'.                                                                                                                  1958 My mom and her siblings were part of a total of...

When (Great-Aunt) Agnes G Sheridan was born, travel by ship to and from Europe would take upwards of 14 days, depending on weather. The most common routes were Liverpool to New York and back.   Agnes was born 11 March 1869 in Perrinton, Gratiot County, Michigan, the youngest of six children born to Patrick and Margaret (Hughes) Sheridan. She went to school to become a teacher, and she spent her lifetime teaching others. She enjoyed traveling and went to Europe a few times, per family stories. Possibly to visit family as her parents were both born in Ireland and had immigrated in 1853.  I have found her in only a couple ships manifests. Supposedly, she traveled overseas at least a few times.  In Aug 1913, she traveled from London to Havre and then on to Quebec on the Ionian. She arrived in Quebec and then boarded the Empress of Ireland and sailed down to St Albans, Vermont, back to the USA. I'm assuming she and her companion Myrtie Divine (also single and a teacher) t...

My maternal 3x great-grandfather Matthew Prince was born in 1826 in Wighill, York, England and immigrated in 1831 to New York. He entered this new land at five years of age with his parents Francis and Sarah (Smith) along with his four older siblings Sarah, Eliza, Hannah and Thomas. All had been born in England and after their arrival into New York their last sibling Mary Ann was born in 1832. The family then moved on and settled in Van Buren, Wayne County, Michigan by 1850. His parents, Francis and Sarah were married 2 Dec 1811 at Saint Mary's Church in Bishophill Junior, York, England. Francis was a cordwainer (a shoemaker who only deals with building new shoes) and was also blind. So, a business owner and an entrepreneur. Matthew Prince and Abigail Bess were married 17 July 1845 in Texas, Oswego County, New York before the family moved west.   They were ages 19 and 15 respectively. They emigrated into Michigan with Matthew's family and finally settled in Decatur, Van Buren ...