Written for Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.Week 1 Prompt:
"The theme for Week 1 is "Family Lore." Many of us have heard
stories from our grandparents about incredible feats our ancestors did or a
famous person we're related to. What's a tale that has been passed down in your
family? Did it end up being true or did it turn out to just be a good story?"
My Family Lore doesn't come from a grandparent. Three of my grandparents had died by the time I was born and the last one died when I was 12. The stories in my family came mostly from my Dad. And boy did he have stories! Which he clung to regardless of whether they were true or not. My Dad loved to speculate and to hope to find connections between people of the same surname regardless of whether there really was a connection.
Family Lore #1
For instance, Dad's maternal grandmother was a Learned. The Learneds go back to the 1600s in America. Dad once came across a famous judge named Learned Hand (1872-1961), the son of Samuel Hand and Lydia Learned. His birth name was Billings Learned Hand. Dad immediately started calling him cousin. I had enough research to keep me busy to prevent me from chasing down my Dad's rabbit holes.
In this case it is fairly easy to say that we are likely related, distantly, to Judge Learned Hand. For this post I decided to check online trees to see if I could make a quick unverified connection. Interestingly enough I could not quickly make a direct link between Lydia Learned and immigrant ancestor, Isaac Learned. I was able to find Lydia's father. Then I needed to search separately for the father, Billings Peck Learned. Then again separate searches for his father and so on about five generations back before I found a tree that showed ancestors to Isaac Learned. If these trees are correct then there definitely is a distant connection with Judge Learned Hand.
Family Lore #2
One of my Dad's most favorite stories was about his paternal line immigrant ancestor, William Edwards, from Wales. We know very little about William. We have Baptismal records for several of his children and then we have mentions in a county history book and family stories. Not much else.
Dad always said that William came over on a ship - sometimes as a sailor and sometimes as a stowaway - and that he jumped ship and stayed in America. This would been somewhere in the 1770s.
It's widely known that one of the most common family myths is about the ancestor who jumped ship and stayed in America. Another common myth is about the 3 brothers who came over together and one went north, one went west and one went south. And the final two common myths that I'll mention here are "we descend from an Indian Princess" and "my ancestor changed his name at Ellis Island."
The story about William Edwards jumping ship is too much of a common myth for me to put much stock in it. William and his wife, Christine/Christina had seven children together. I descend from John Edwards who was born in 1792. The interesting thing is that descendants of Solomon (born 1799) and Amanda (born 1808) also share the story about William jumping ship.
I don't think that makes the story any more true. I think it means that the families were still in touch when the story started to get circulated.
Family Lore #3
The final epic myth that Dad loved to talk about was claiming the Edwards inheritance of a large chunk of lower Manhattan. When he first told me about this I thought he had lost all his senses. Then I started researching the story. There is truth to the story.
Apparently a man named Robert Edwards was granted 70 acres of lower Manhattan by the Royal Crown. He or his family (depending on the story. There are many stories!) then leased it to Trinity Church for 99 years. After the lease was up Trinity kept the property. Various Edwards have been trying to get the property back in the 19th and 20th centuries. There's even a Wikipedia entry - which reveals that there is a 15 year statute of limitations on making a claim thus making the success of the legal action fruitless.
The story is very interesting but likely has absolutely no tie to my ancestor other than they share the name Edwards and they both come from Wales.
Family Lore #4
My mom had some stories too.
Mom always talked about her mother, Marian Silver, sharing a story that the house she lived in when a child was submerged under water when the Monongahela River was dammed. My mother remembers going on a trip to Indiana County, Pennsylvania and having her mother point out the location of where her house used to be.
Since my grandmother died before my birth I don't have any separate corroboration of that story. In fact, mom was only 13 when her mother died so I have to question if she remembered this correctly or not. Then there's also the chance that I am remembering her story wrong.
I did some checking to see whether this was possible as a historical memory for Mom. It seems likely that the river in question was the Conemaugh River which runs along the southern border of Indiana County, PA and not the Monongahela River. According to Wikipedia the Conemaugh Dam "was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1936 and completed in 1952 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for flood protection on the Conemaugh, Kiskiminetas, and Allegheny Rivers." The timing of this would certainly have allowed for a drive by my mother and grandmother after the flooding took place.
My grandmother was born and raised in Pittsburgh so I think this story actually refers to Margaret Jane George, my great grandmother, who was born and raised in Black Lick and Burrell, (both in Indiana County) Pennsylvania.
Writing about this particular family lore has really started me thinking about this aspect of my mother's family history. I will likely try to pinpoint where Margaret Jane George lived as a child and compare that to the area impacted by the building of the Conemaugh River Dam.
Family Lore #5
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| The actor, Jimmy Stewart |
This last story, also about Margaret Jane George, was a fun story often bantered around the family not just by my mom but also her brother. The story was that Margaret Jane George dated Alexander Stewart, the father of the famous actor Jimmy Stewart. They always said had things been different their grandma could have been Jimmy Stewart's mother! Of course, it didn't work out that way.
While I don't know of any way to verify this, I think it could very likely be true. Alexander Stewart was born in 1872 and Margaret Jane George was born in 1873. They lived in close proximity to each other in Indiana County, Pennsylvania. Despite the fame of Jimmy Stewart, Alexander remained in Indiana County his whole life. My mother had a number of details about Alexander, including that he ran a hardware store, so I think this story could be accurate but I can't say for sure.
This was a fun exercise and it proves that writing about your ancestors gets you thinking about them on a deeper level. Considering family lore and myths was a fun way to start the year.
