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I have been locked out of this account for many years and I am just trying to see if this works.

Going to Ireland to see where the Carrolls came from

I will be going to Ireland with UNH for a course on comparative studies.  At the end of the course, I am staying a few extra days and traveling to Cork.  My great-grandfather, William Joseph Carroll, came from a small town called Cloughduff. Sometimes it is spelled Cloughduv. It is a few miles west of Cork city.  Also, in that area is the port from which most of the Irish who left during the famine years sailed.  My great-grandfather left from that port many years after the famine, he arrived in Boston in April 1887.  That port was known as Queenstown, but has since been renamed Cobh.  There is a heritage center there where I can learn more about the port and the experience of the people who emigrated in the 19th century.  There is also an exhibit about the Titanic because Cobh was its last port of call before it sank.

Although this is not a New England genealogy post, it is relevant for two reasons. The first reason is that this blog is about my family and my genealogy and Ireland is a big part of that. And, the second reason is that Irish immigrants were a huge influence on Boston and the culture of New England in general. 

I plan to write more and post pictures when I return, or sooner if I can get an internet connection.

Family Health History

When I recently went to get my eyes checked and get a new prescription for glasses, I thought it was going to be a routine eye exam. I was quite shocked when the doctor got all serious and started telling me that because of the shape of my eyes, I am at higher risk for “acute closed angle glaucoma”. It is a congenital thing, having to do with the actual shape of my eyes and the fact that I am far sighted. He had actually told me this two years ago and I blocked it out of my mind. This time, he felt my eyes looked a little worse and scheduled some very intensive tests. My mind was spinning when I left his office because I kept remembering the stories my grandmother (Margaret Howes) told me about her mother (Margaret Peters) going blind: “She cried and cried and cried and then her tears dried up and she went blind.” I asked my mother if she remembered this, but her grandmother died before she was born and she did not remember the stories. She called her last surviving aunt to see what she remembered and Aunt Franny (Frances Hugleman) said her mother was living with her (Fran’s) sister Sal (Sally Ennis) in Medford, Massachusetts, and one morning Sal went in to wake her up. She said “Ma, are you going to get up?” and her mother said, “Why? It’s the middle of the night!” Sal said, “No, it’s bright daylight!” and that is when they knew she was blind. My mother also called her sister Kay (Catherine Reinold) who might be old enough to remember the event, and she said she remembered the same stories as I. The doctor told me that if I had an attack, I would be in excruciating pain and then within hours I would go blind. Since neither of these stories mentions being in pain, maybe my great grandmother had a totally different condition, and in 1940 it might not have been fully diagnosed. However, the doctor did tell me to put warm compresses on my eyes twice a day to “save what is left” of the little pores that allow tears and oil to be secreted and create a film over my eyes when I blink. I think this problem is more related to excessive viewing of computer screens than anything genetic. However, since the risk of glaucoma is a genetic factor and I know of at least one possible case in the family, I was glad to have that knowledge.
I found some interesting articles on the web about recording one’s family history for health reasons. Here is a short and simple 5 step article to explain how to do it: http://amberskyline.com/treasuremaps/family-history/why-you-should-research-your-family-history-and-your-family-health-history.html
I am going to read through the information I have available for my family and see what health conditions show up as trends in the family tree. I want to record this information for my children and grandchildren so they have as much information available to them as they might need.

The Hunt Room at Nashua Public Library

I went to the Nashua Public Library today to use their computers. They have Ancestry.com and Newspaperarchive.com subscriptions, so they are a good local resource for research. I also decided to look for some information about Nashua's history and the computer showed that they had books of Vital Statistics for City of Nashua from about 1875 to 1935. They are kept in the Hunt Room and unfortunately, I could not find any index, so I looked through chronologically, page by page until my parking meter ran out and I had to stop. This is a resource that I did not know existed and I will go back another day to spend more time on it. They also have a book about the history of Nashua's neighborhoods, which I would also like to read. I used the microfilm to look up an obituary in the Nashua Telegraph and was able to eliminate a possible family member. The Telegraph is not really indexed, so I would need to have approximate dates to look up any events or special interest stories, but it is good to know it is available at the library.

Spring in New England

I have decided to make a concerted effort to write in this blog more often. It was a very long, difficult winter for me, but I am feeling the renewal of Spring and have started doing historical research again. First, a friend bought an old house near downtown Nashua, NH, and was wondering about it's true age. I have been researching the house and it's former residents in order to write a little history book for her. Then, I went to a "ghost hunt" at the Country Tavern in Nashua, NH (http://www.countrytavern.org/), hosted by CC the Huntress (http://www.ccthehuntress.com/index.htm) and hearing her presentation on how she researched the history of the tavern was really fascinating. She did the same research a genealogist would do and then compared her notes to the local myths about the property, finally explaining how some of the truths could have morphed into the myths. Very interesting! Also, it gave me some ideas about how to fill in the gaps in the record about my friend's house in order to write a story about it, in the manner of the American Girl stories - historical fiction.

The snow is almost gone and now I can once again go to cemeteries to do research and also get around more easily to facilities that have limited parking. My goal for Monday is to create a "to do" list of research that I want to work on, so that when I have the opportunity, the list is there.

BTW, if anyone has the chance to dine at the Country Tavern, the food is excellent and if you only have time for a drink, the tavern section is very atmospheric! And, CC the Huntress is a total professional, worth every penny for such a nice evening!

Vale End Cemetery, Wilton, NH

In the spirit of Halloween, I wanted to do something spooky and I had seen an article online about a supposedly haunted cemetery in Wilton, NH. Since it was a beautiful autumn day and Wilton is only about 20 miles away and one of my ancestors (Caroline Gray) was from Wilton, it seemed like an appropriate destination. Unfortunately, research is difficult in Wilton, because all the records were burned in a town hall fire in the 1860's and Caroline was born in 1822, so we have little information about her family besides her father's name (Joseph). The cemetery is called Vale End and since it was small, I walked around reading stones to see if there were any Grays there. I did not see any names from my family tree at all. And, I did not see any ghosts. However, it is a beautiful site, up on a hill, with a small pond visible through the trees. I did get lost looking for the cemetery and then drove past it before I could read the sign. The road was so narrow that I had to drive about half a mile up before I could find a spot to turn around. That was actually fortuitous because the area is so beautiful that when I found a spot to turn around, I parked and got out to take pictures. While I did not find any family information at Vale End, I did see another, much larger, cemetery at the beginning of the road that I would like to check out on a warmer day. On the way back, I stopped at the absolute best nursery in NH – House By the Side of the Road. I got myself a little birthday present, a cute mini African violet.
So, no family found, no ghosts seen, but still a great day.

The website for ghosthunting in NH is:
http://www.hollowhill.com/nh/nh.htm

Tomb of Seth Webber and Joseph Grammer

I had an appointment in Boston on Tuesday so I thought it would be a good opportunity to go back to Copp's Hill and see if I could find the tomb stone of Joseph Grammer, since I now have the maps to guide me. We took the T from Arlington Street to Haymarket and walked the Freedom Trail from Faneuil Hall to the cemetery. It was very warm and sunny, and I was surprised there were no bright fall colors to the trees. When we finally wove through the tourists and reached the gates of the cemetery – they were padlocked shut! There was no sign and neither the tourists nor we knew why they were locked, but I feared it was due to vandalism. So, we walked around to the back of the cemetery, where I knew the stone was located. I could see what I suspected was the stone right up close to the fence, so I found a toe hold in the bricks, grabbed the wrought iron bars and climbed up. I am a big chicken, so I didn't jump over (I could have, but I was still worried about vandalism or something and I didn't want to mess up a crime scene). Anyway, I was able to lean over the fence, upside down, and take a picture of the stone. I'm sure that was a very attractive sight from the road! And, I am the clumsiest person I know, so just picture my poor mother on the sidewalk below, ready to catch me if I fell! The stone seems to be sunken, I could only see Seth Webber's name and the date. But, otherwise it seemed to be in good shape. I am going to use some of the references in the Chauncey Wells book to research who might be buried in that tomb. According to the author, the names of all those buried in a tomb are not always on the stone, and the names were sometimes put on the stone when purchased and many years later that person was buried elsewhere. I stopped at the gift shop at the Old North Church to ask why the gates were locked, because if it was some long term damage or construction or whatever, I wanted to warn other researchers who might be planning the trip. The teenagers working there were all like "Duh, are they locked?" Apparently, the official gatekeeper must have called out sick and no one else thought to unlock them :) They did mention that it is managed by the National Park Service and that is who one should call to confirm that the cemetery is open.