#10DaysofChronicles

Catching Up on Some Chronicles

April 29, 2024 Becky

I should be posting Chronicles on social media using prompts about my family. But sometimes you get stuck and then you fall behind, which is where I am at presently. So I have decided to post them here from now on and should I stay on schedule, I’ll post them on Instagram as well.

Here is a prompt from March – it’s the day in the life of an ancestor, I’ve opted to write about my 2nd-great-grandfather, Arthur Dunbar.

Arthur Dunbar

Today I’m discussing the day in the life of an ancestor. According to the 1900 and 1910 Federal Census, Arthur J. Dunbar, my 2nd-great-grandfather on my mom’s maternal side, was a farmer. In the 1910 Census, it specified his farm as a “general farm”. Until I can find a copy of the Agricultural Schedule to determine exactly what his farm had, I’m going to assume a general farm is your basic farm – with vegetables and animals.

As I decided to dig deeper into the best crops for Potter County, PA I learned that most farms were best suited for dairy and poultry farms and potatoes! (No one loves potatoes more than me). Farming back in the early 1900’s was hard work (it’s hard today) but you didn’t have tractors or mechanical tools at this time to make life a little easier. You got up early in the morning and would plow the land using your own strength or that of animals (most likely a horse or a mule). You worked hard all day, from sun up to sun down, ending the day by eating dinner with your family and going to bed early so you could get up and do it all again the next day. Arthur was the father of 3 girls, so it’s not likely that they were able to help out as much as he may have liked.

This is a photo of the 40 acres that my dad now owns in Woodsfield, Ohio (it was originally owned by my grandfather, Leroy Blair)

Arthur died at the age of 43 of polio.

Genealogy, Maternal Side, My Family Tree

I’m Doing It Again

February 8, 2024 Becky

I have gone almost a month without a blog post. It just seems like I’ve been so busy and can barely find time to even work on genealogy – despite one of the things keeping me busy in January was a genealogy workshop where I focused on my 3rd-Great-Grandfather, George Ritchey. But I’m still investigating him so I’ll write about him when I get more answers (and I will get more answers – as my research just brought about more questions – don’t you hate that?).

So once again I’m participating in the 10 Days of Chronicles with my PAAncestors.com group. In this particular post I’m finishing up the last 5 days that I wrote about in January – but I’ll make sure I do another post about the Chronicles I’ve been writing for February. Denys has done an excellent job of coming up with prompts that make me think. Enough that most of my posts are coming late in the evening for the simple fact it takes me all day to come up with a proper response.

Anyhow – here are days 6-10 for the month of January:

Day 6 I wrote about my 3rd-Great-Grandfather, Winfield Warner, and his involvement in the Civil War.

Day 7 we talked about a family home. Since I don’t have any photos of anyone closer to me, I posted the photo of the Ryther House in Bernardston, Massachusetts which was built by my 7th-great-grandparents.

Day 8 was the topic of family reunions – so I chose the descendants of my 2nd-great-grandmother, Mazie Warner to meet up with, as many are still in the Akron area.

Day 9 was reconstructing the day in the life of an ancestor. I chose my great-grandmother, Mildred Dunbar, as I inherited some of her clothes when she passed away and she babysat me when I was little.

On Day 10 it was discussing the birthplace of your ancestor so I chose to share the birth record from Sherborn, Massachusetts of my 7th-great-grandfather, David Ryther (though changed to Rider due to religious persecution). He was born in 1719.

This exericse is a great way to get little stories just written down about your ancestor. If you think you may want to sign up for March – make a comment and I’ll make sure I put a link for you to sign up.

Genealogy, Maternal Side, My Family Tree

January 6, 2024January 5, 2024 Becky

Have you begun your new year doing anything at all with your genealogy? I have – I’ve signed up for a writing challenge with the PAAncestors.com website where we chronicle about our ancestors each day for 10 days. It’s nice because they are short and sweet and to the point, approximately 150 words. So far so good.

We post our chronicle to social media. The main 2 that are friendly to hashtags are Twitter/X or Instagram. Not having a whole lot on Instagram I’ve opted to use it this time, but I also have the little option to have it shared on Facebook which allows my family to view it as well – and they tend to comment. It’s working out nicely too as I’m focusing this round of questions on my mom’s side of the family, specifically my Warner family.

Here are cropped photos of what I’ve shared on social media. I know it will be happening again next month on the chance you find that you are interested.