It all started with a Prince

Institution is a word of many definitions.  The first one that comes to mind is a public or private place for the care or confinement of inmates, especially mental patients or other persons with physical or mental disabilities.  Very few families from the last Century have been exempt from dealings with local institutions. Whether a physically challenged person or an elderly family member that really wasn't ill but dealing with issues such as dementia. Much different than today. My great grandfather Michael Sheridan was sent to the Traverse City State Hospital in 1924. The TCSH was built in 1881. The first superintendent was James Munson. He was a forward-thinking individual and used 'beauty and work' theories. Not drugs and restraints. There was a working farm, wood shops, greenhouses and other activities for the patients to be fully engaged in.  In 1924, the usual and normal way was to 'commit' a person who could no longer be given the care needed. You didn't...

  DNA does not lie. That is what they say. So, as I was questioning the Conner origins, doing a DNA test would be able to help clear up any controversy. Right? My husband Dan was a tall, red-headed young man when we met in High School. I soon learned he was the son of another tall, red-headed man. And his dad's brother also had red hair when younger and even went by the name of 'Red'. With a name like Conner - I was excited to meet, date and eventually marry an Irishman. And his mom was a Daly! Back in the early1970's there was no such thing as computers, cell phones and DNA testing.  So, I began researching his family the old-fashioned way...by mail, utilizing the local Family Search library, and subscribing to genealogy magazines. My favorite thing to do was take a 'road trip' and my husband was wonderful about driving me about. His grandfather George Conner was born in Michigan. Great-grandfather William Conner had been born in Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada. And ...

Usually, research starts with now and works its way back. But I am going to start at the end of one of my lines (so far).  It starts with John Dillingham, born ca1490 in Upper Dean, Bedfordshire, England. John married Joan Olyff from Over Dean, Bedfordshire, England. They were the parents of 10 children. I descend from their youngest son William Dillingham, born ca1540. And the next 12 generations down to me have a lot of stories that they can tell. But I want to concentrate today on my 11th great-grandfather's brother. His name was Walter Dillingham, and he was born ca1526 in Upper Dean, Bedfordshire, England and was married to Alice Roulte.  They were the parents of six children.   Their first-born son was Francis Dillingham who was born 15 Aug 1568 in Upper Dean, England and died 24 Feb 1625 in Wilden, England.  Francis was an English Protestant scholar and cleric. He was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, becoming a Fellow there in 1594. He was one of ...

Way back - back before computers were commonplace, I received a letter from my husband's Aunt Virginia (Smith) Frantz. She was the family genealogist for his Smith/Daly family back then. I had the basics, but she had the 'meat' of the family. In the letter, she stated that she had discovered that her 2x great grandfather had been William S Smith - who descended from his father William Stubens Smith. This 3x great grandfather had been married to Catherine Johnson, and he was the son of Col William Stephens Smith and Abigail (Adams) Smith, also called "Nabby".  Abigail was the daughter of President John Adams and his wife Abigail (Smith).  Very exciting news! Of course, the internet was not what it is today, access to far-reaching library shelves was only after a road trip, and often even then, books were not accurate. So, the news languished in my mountains of notes, papers, and even in my software program for a number of years.  Until one day that I decided to try...

My 2x great grandmother Margaret Matter came from Ottwiller, Bas-Rhin, Alsace-Lorraine, France/Germany. Margaret was born 5 Aug 1833 and when she was age 22 and her sister Sophia was age 19, they immigrated to America on the ship Hemisphere into New York via LeHavre, France arriving the 7th of June 1856.  They met up with their parents George and Margueritte (Burr) Matter and brothers Henry and Louis, who had immigrated in 1852 via New York, in Muscatine, Iowa.  Muscatine was settled by a large number of German speaking immigrants. Muscatine was once the pearl button capitol of the world supplying hand-made buttons from the mussels from the shoals of the Mississippi River. Margaret married John J Porter 30 Dec 1858 in Tipton, Iowa. She was age 24 and he was age 40. They were the parents of six children:  John Lewis, William Henry*, George Washington, Mary Ellen, Margaret Ida and Harry Edward.  John L married Mary Karner and they migrated to and died in Houston, Texa...

Back in 1974 when we married, we were lucky enough to be able to 'rent' my husband's mother's extra house that she had on Barnes Lake in Columbiaville, Michigan. Dan was working for North Central Airlines at the time in Flint and after having done a stint of nine months at Chicago O'Hare, he was pretty happy to be back on familiar turf. Living next door to his grandmother Margaret (Smith) (Daly) Chapman, I learned to accept any help from her regarding laundry, cooking, recipes, cleaning, burning leaves in the driveway, folding fitted sheets. You get the picture. She was a wealth of knowledge for this fledging new bride. I loved our small three-bedroom, one bath house.  Even the pink ceramic tile in the bathroom - from the floor to half-way up the walls, tile. In 1976, we spent a short time in Traverse City, Michigan on a summer bid. We rented a house trailer in Interlochen and Dan worked the 5pm - 1am shift. It was a simple home, but it was ours for the moment. Then...

When I first saw this prompt, my mind went to the Civil War, WWII, and the like. After all - we do research our families - and most of that research is in the past.  But this time, I decided that this story needs to be told and be there for our younger generations to be able to read about a more recent historical event. September 11th. If you use the year 1999, it was the year our daughter was married. So, a wonderful, fabulous memory.  But if you use the year 2001, it becomes a totally different memory.   Where were you...??? I was at work. In a small office working at the local fairgrounds. When I was called by my younger daughter that a plane had hit the World Trade Center and I shared it with my boss, he sent me out to his camping trailer (that was stored there) and had me get his small television. Plugging it in on the counter, just in time to see the second plane hit the tower. We watched in awe, horror and grief as it all played out. But the person in our fami...