Ancestry.com and other sites are pretty popular right now, and they are also advertising on TV.
I can remember when I was a teenager, my parents encouraged me to join the Daughters of the American Revolution. It didn't seem to be anything that I'd be interested in. After all, I was just growing up. I don't think even my own history held much meaning for me.
While searching online last week regarding the requirements to join the DAR, I happened to type in a name, which led me to some information.
My connection to the American Revolution starts with Isaac Cady. From what I gathered online (from someone else's search) and the knowledge of my grandfather's and great-grandfather's name, here's what I uncovered:
I will be leaving out brothers and sisters of the people mentioned, simply to draw a direct line down towards myself.
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Isaac Cady enlisted in the New Hampshire Line for three years and served until peace was declared. He was born at Pomfret, Conn., 1739 and died at Alstead, N.H.
Isaac Cady married Sarah Hildred--
Their son, Joseph Cady married Rebecca Cheever--
Their son, James B. Cady married Betsey Monroe--
Their son, James Jerome Cady married Experience Smith--
Their daughter Mary Excie Cady married Judson Harvey Stafford--(my great-grandfather, a jeweler)
Their son Judson Harvey Stafford married Mildred Brown--(my grandfather, a minister of the Gospel)
Their son, James Jerome Stafford married Ruth Holt--
I am their daughter, Janice Mary (Stafford) Laliberte.
Having this knowledge helped me actually picture some of these people and understand who they were. I have inherited a "birthday book" which belonged to my father's grandmother (Mary Cady). In it, she wrote down various names with information regarding births, marriages and deaths. This really makes your ancestors more than a name on a page!
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| This book has been sitting on my shelf for years. |
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| I remember meeting him when I was a little girl. He and my grandmother were divorced and he moved down south. |
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| This is my grandfather's father, who was a jeweler. I still have a gold pocket watch which he engraved with an "S". |
I don't know yet who John Cady was, Mary Cady marked this entry as his birth being in 1902. She proceeded to mention his graduation from Annapolis in 1922, which would make him 20 years old, rather than the 22 that she recorded. Did he skip a couple of grades? Or did she somehow make a mistake regarding his graduation day? I have a lot more to research.
You can see how the names repeated down through the years.
Now I find myself thinking of young Isaac Cady, a real guy, who willingly took up arms in the 1700s, to keep the Boston area strong against the British.
2 comments:
It's always fun discovering our roots. My Father has traced our family, on his side back to England and Scotland. My Mother's is a bit of a mystery on her Mother's and Father's side. Her Mother was adopted, left on a church doorstep after she was born. Her Father's family were Russian immigrants that left Russia around the time of Nicholas. Back then when they left, they were erased from the country's history and family history so we can't trace them at all. Can't wait to see if you discover anything else!
This is all so interesting, isn't it? Too bad you can't trace all of your mother's side. But you never know what will turn up about information about a baby left on a doorstep someday!
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