Archive for the ‘Saturday Night Genealogy Fun’ Category

by Sherry Stocking Kline
November 14, 2009

Here, thanks to Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings, is your Saturday Night Genealogy Fun writing mission, if you decide to accept it (cue the Mission: Impossible music…):

1. What is the Nicest Thing another genealogist did for you, or to you, in the last week or so? (If you have no examples for this past week, go back in time – surely someone has done a nice thing for you in recent years!).

2. Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, in a comment on Facebook, or in a tweet on Twitter.

In the past few weeks, two Twitter friends helped me navigate the rocky-for-me road of how to ‘do stuff’ on my WordPress blog!

I tweeted for help…

In late September, I tweeted for help in finding a Blog Roll so I could add other folks blog addresses to my blog!

And GeneaBloggers (@geneabloggers on Twitter) tweeted me the instructions for how to do it, then tweeted me a “why don’t you blog about it message later.” (I still plan to!)

It took @geneabloggers about six tweets at 140 characters to send me the info, but the instructions were perfect.

I found the Blog Roll I wanted, and next thing you know, I had a blog roll on my blog! Woo Hoo!  Thanks, GeneaBloggers!  Now, I just need to find the time to add everyone’s blog on there.

Yesterday, I followed a link…

Just yesterday, I followed a link on Twitter from @Bonnie67 that led me to her  post at Bonnie67′s. (Bonnie isn’t a genealogist, yet, but I’m ‘recruiting’ her.)

Bonnie had a link to a music video, the very same song by Sam the Sham and the Pharoah’s that I wished I could have added to my first Saturday Night Genealogy Fun post.

When I mentioned that I wished I knew how to post music video’s on my site, Bonnie got busy and wrote a blog post to show me how!

Awesome!     Thanks, Bonnie!

And though this was a long time ago and I’d have to dig through a lot of old genealogy to find her name, there was a wonderfully kind woman who was the first woman I wrote to to try to find information about my husband’s Kline family.

This wonderful woman looked up some information in the newspaper, located a description about the farm animals owned, crops grown, and the orchard on the farm, and found information about the two children of James and Elizabeth Kline that had passed away while they lived there.

I was able to locate some information at the library in Wichita that helped her out some, too, information that told her that some of her family had been founding members in the small cattle town that was Wichita in its early days.

It was the help from this woman, and others like her that helped me have those early successes in piecing together the family histories that weave together and make up the fabric of who our family is, and fueled my desire to learn more, and more.

Thank you!

by Sherry Stocking Kline

November 14, 2009

One of Randy Seaver’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenges for September was to blog about our favorite songs. See that SNGF post here.

That was a tough assignment!

I love music, and so many of my favorite songs are tied with memories, some good, some bad, some inspirational, and some sad.

There’s too many favorites to count, but Randy’s challenge brought to mind one song that we had such fun with while we were in high school because it brings back so many fun memories.  And of the time  right before high school graduation, before we went off to college, or to war, or for some to get married. It was a time when we had few responsibilities.

Sam the Sam and the Pharoah’s “Lil Red Riding Hood” was ‘the’ song to sing with a carload of teens dragging Main Street in the ’60’s.

You Could Howl Out the Window…

You could sing at the top of your lungs, howl out the window at passing cars and pedestrians, and in general, just act silly.

It was right before most cars had seat belts and there were no seat belt laws, so even my mom’s little white Ford Fairlane 500 might have six passengers.  (No alcohol was involved in our little group, it was just a bunch of silly teens having fun.)

Anyway, thanks to Twitter buddy @bonnie67, who read my “I don’t know how to embed a video” Tweet, and offered these instructions at Bonnie67’s Blog!

Thank you, Bonnie!

So here, thanks to Bonnie, are Sam the Sham and The Pharoah’s.

(And please – Feel free to sing along, and howl at the appropriate times….)

P.S. I had to go into my WordPress HTML tab to add in the coding for embedding the code.  I apologize, but I don’t know how any other blog hosts require it done!

by Sherry Stocking Kline
November 7th, 2009

It’s Saturday Night and time for the Saturday Night Genealogy Fun Challenge!  The following comes from Randy Seaver, http://www.geneamusings.com/.  Once again, Thanks, Randy!

Hey, genealogy fans – it’s Saturday Night, and time for some Genealogy Fun!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible music…), is:

1) Find out the geographical distribution of your surname – in the world, in your state or province, in your county or parish. I suggest that you use the Public Profiler site at http://www.publicprofiler.org/worldnames/, which seems to work quickly and easily. However, you cannot capture the image as a photo file – you have to capture the screen shot, save it and edit it.

2) Tell us about your surname distribution in a blog post of your own (with a screen shot if possible), in comments to this post, or in comments on a social networking site like Facebook and Twitter.

It was interesting to see where the Stocking surname was scattered, and also where it is predominant.  It still appears to be more dominant in the United Kingdom, where it originated.

My Stocking immigrant ancestor, George Stocking, came to America in the 1630’s on the ship Griffith from Suffolk, England. It appears there are still many family members in England today.

It was interesting to see the break down for the FPM or Frequency of Family Members Per Million by Countries of the Stocking Name:

Country

United Kingdom   9.72
United States         8.53
Canada                      5.73
New Zealand           1.41
France                       0.05

The following is what the map looks like by Regions:

Idaho, United States  76.85
Utah, United States 62.83
West Midlans, United Kingdom  30.65
East Anglia, United Kingdome   24.78
Wyoming, United States  24.36

And then the Stocking surname in my State!  And if you look to the county just south of Wichita, which is Sumner County, you will see there are several of the Stocking family represented in this area!

The Stocking Surname in Kansas!

by Sherry Stocking Kline
October 31, 2009

The following is the Saturday Night Genealogy Fun Challenge by Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings!  Thanks, Randy!

Hey boys and girls, it’s Hallowe’en, and time for some Saturday Night Genealogy Fun! Play either before or after your trick or treating experiences, or even on Sunday morning after your extra hour of sleep (you did remember to set your clocks back, didn’t you?).

Here is your assignment, should you decide to accept it (you ARE reading this, so I assume that you really want to play along – cue the Mission Impossible music!):

1) Think about your most memorable Hallowe’en – was it when you were a child (candy, games, carnivals), a teenager (tricks and treats), or an adult (perhaps a party)?

2) Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post of mine, or in a comment on Twitter or Facebook in response to this post.

3) Have fun!

Looking back at my own memories I realize how lucky we were. We lived in, or in my case near, a wonderful small town where the residents were patient and the bank roof was sturdy.

What was so important about the bank roof being sturdy?

The goal each Halloween, for at least two generations, was to block off the three-block Main Street so no traffic could get through, (at all) soap car and business’ windows, (there were five in my time prior to that six or seven) and to …

Pile as Much Stuff on the Bank Roof as Possible!

In our defense, it didn’t start with my generation.

In my father’s time, horse drawn buggies were pushed, pulled, and hauled up on the bank’s roof.

In my time, for whatever reason, it became the preacher’s kid’s swing sets that made their way onto the bank roof each Halloween.

Just in case one of the p.k.’s (preacher’s kids) read this someday it didn’t mean we didn’t like you or your folks, i.e. it was not a negative reflection on the preacher’s popularity, it was probably because the family was well liked.

And, it was also because the swing sets were handy to the bank and very easily moved.

In Mayfield, in the 1950’s, it was safe…

In Mayfield, in the 1950’s, it was safe for children to go around by themselves. Maybe it wouldn’t be now, maybe not even in Mayfield which is still has about 100 residents, and isn’t that a sad commentary on our times.

My very first Halloween memory is when I was about three or four years old and not much taller than the paper grocery sack my mom sent me off to trick or treat with.

One of the ‘big girls’, Anita Biles or Ginny Barry, took me by the hand, and walked me around the town along with a crowd made up of all ages and sizes.  I felt very short, very small, and kind of scared.

My next memory is being big enough not to hold anyone’s hand and going around with friends in home-made costumes. I remember being a hobo often, because the bandannas and ratty clothes were easy to come by.

By the Time We Were Old Enough, the Privy’s were gone…

By the time my generation was big enough to join in with creating havoc, some of the buggies and horse drawn wagons still sat in yards and town fields, but the outhouses (privy’s) were gone. My dad’s generation was known to push over outhouses.(Occasionally some resourceful person moved the outhouse, and the prankster’s fell IN the outhouse hole) and one Hallowwen someone was actually IN an outhouse when it was pushed over.

Looking back, I marvel at the patience of the men who got up the next day, and took everything back to its proper home, because if it was movable, if it could be drug, rolled, pushed or pulled, it made its way to Main Street on Halloween night amidst joyous laughter and much camaraderie. (And for those who cleaned up the next day, please know that I’m grateful.)

We Were ‘Too Old’ to Go Trick or Treating…

As teen-agers, though we considered ourselves too old to go trick-or-treating, we were still expected to make an appearance in each of our town “Grandma’s” homes to receive our treats.

We started out at Grandma Mabel Stayton’s, where my mom, Dorothy Stocking, and my best friend’s mom, Wanda Stayton, both farm wives, sat with Mabel to hand out candy along with Mabel. From there, we traveled to visit at Grandma Eva Downing’s, Grandma Jenny McCreary’s, Valley Heasty’s, Mrs. Washburn’s, Dode and Bonnie Anderson, and Nancy and Rosa Weber’s home.

At each home, we were welcomed with candy and choruses of “My how you’ve grown!”, “What grade are you in now?” and “Be sure and come back next year!”

We had no idea then, how lucky we were to grow up in a small town with such a family friendly atmosphere.

But Traditions Change…

It wasn’t too many years after we Tricked and Treated that the traditions were changed to ones that were safer and were less work for all involved, but looking back, well, memories just don’t get any better than the ones we were lucky enough to create.

The following challenge comes from Randy Seaver of http://www.geneamusings.com/

Hey, genealogy fans – it’s Saturday Night – time for more Genealogy Fun!

In honor of Surname Saturday (the new, official genealogy blogging prompt for Saturdays), let’s consider this, assuming you accept the challenge to play along (is it Mission Impossible?):

1) What is the most unique, strangest or funniest combination of given name and last name in your ancestry? Not in your database – in your ancestry.

2) Tell us about this person in a blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or in a comment on Facebook.

3) Okay, if you don’t have a really good one – how about a sibling of your direct ancestors?

by Sherry Stocking Kline
October 24, 2009

Because Most folks laugh when I tell them my maiden name, Stocking, I picked an ancestor from that side of the family.

When folks asked me how to spell my maiden name, I’d say “Just like you wear, just like it sounds.” When my brother was in high school, his friends nicknamed him “Sox” a name that stuck with him, and after he graduated and I entered high school a few years later, my friends called me “Sox”  as well.

The ancestor’s name that I’ve been curious about ever since I read it in the family history book, was Deacon Samuel Stocking, son of George and Anna Stocking who immigrated from Suffolk, England on the ship Griffith in the 1630’s, and traveled to Hartford, Connecticut with Thomas Hooker’s party. George became one of Hartford’s founders.

According to family records, Deacon Samuel married Bethiah Hopkins on May 27th, 1652. A quick Google search brought his will to light in several places on the internet. Awesome, considering 10 years ago, it was only available in one place.

My question has been, was Deacon Samuel his name, or was Deacon his church title? And I realized when I re-read the wills, one after the other, (for what was NOT the first time) that George’s will refers to his son Samuel, not his son, Deacon Samuel.

So surely Samuel’s “Deacon” is a church title. On the other hand, Deacon Samuel’s will does refer to him as Deacon Samuel, sen.

So, while I think the question is answered tonight, I’d be happy to hear comments from those with more experience.

A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records: Hartford district, 1635-1700

By Charles William Manwaring

Page 136.

Stocking, George. He died 25 May, 1683. Invt. £257-09-00. Taken by Nath. Willett, Tho. Bunce, John Easton. Invt. in Middletown taken 8 June, 1683, by Nath: White & John Warner.

Court Record, Page 73—6 September, 1683: An Inventory of the Estate of George Stocking was exhibited in Court. Adms. to Samuel Stocking.

Page 78—18 December, 1683: This Court haveing viewed that presented as the Last Will & Testament of George Stocking in the circumstances of it, together with what George Stocking hath declared to George Stocking & Capt. Allyn, & his declaration of his will in part contradicting, doe Judge that the will presented is of no value, & therefore the Court distribute the Estate as followeth: To Samuel Stocking, £100; to Hannah Benton’s children, £41; to the wife of John Richards, £41; to the wife of Samuel Olcott, £41; & to John Stocking, who hath lived with George Stocking, his grandfather, for some years, the remainder of the Estate, being £34, we distributed to John Stocking; and desire & appoint Marshall George Grave & Thomas Bunce to make this Distribution. (See Will, Vol. III.)

Page 168-9.

Stocking, Deacon Samuel sen., Middletown. Died 30 December, 1683. Invt. £648-08-08. Taken by Giles Hamlin, William Ward. The children: Samuel 27 years of age, John 23, George 19, Ebenezer 17, Steven 10, Daniel 6 years old, Bethia Stow 25, Lydia Stocking 21 years. Will dated 13 November, 1683.

I Samuel Stocking of Middletown do leave this my last Will & Testament : I give unto my loveing wife Bethia Stocking my whole Homestead lying on the both sides of the Highway with all ye Buildings thereon thereunto belonging, with my whole Lott in the Long Meadow, with my Lott at Pistol Poynt, & half of my Meadow lying on the other side of the Brook, that part of it that lyeth next to the Great River, with all my Meadow Lands at Wongunk, together with all my Stock & Moveables; these I give my wife during her Widowhood, and upon marrying again I Will to her £4 yearly to be raised out of that Estate which I have agreed to my son Daniel Stocking.

I give to my son Samuel Stocking my whole Allottment upon the Hill between the Land of Lt. White and Israel Willcox, only excepting 6 acres adjoining to the Land of Lt. White, which I give to my daughter Bethia. Moreover I give to my son Samuel the remaining half of the Meadow over the Brook, with 10 acres of the Swamp adjoining to it. I give him my whole Allottment at the Cold Spring on the west side of the Way to Hartford. I give to him, sd. son Samuel, the whole of my Lott at Pipe Stave Swamp, with the half of my Allottment next unto Wethersfield Bounds, with the halfe of my Lott at Pistol Poynt, upon his Mother’s decease.

I give unto my son John Stocking the whole of the Land and Buildings at my Father Stocking’s decease bequeathed me by his last Will, within the Bounds of Hartford. I give unto my daughter Lydia my Lott lying next unto Thomas Ranny’s, and butting upon ye Commons West and Dead Swamp East, with a good Milk Cow, to be delivered her within 12 months after my decease.

I give to my sons George & Ebenezer all my Lands on the East side of the Great River, to be equally divided between them, excepting the y2 of my Great Lott next unto Haddam Bounds.

I give to my son Steven my whole Lott upon the Hill, bounded upon ye Lands of Thomas Rannie North, the Commons East, West & South, with my whole Allottment in Boggy Meadow, with all my Meadow & Upland in the farther Neck, giving the Improvement of the Boggy Meadow unto my son Samuel till the abovesd. child is of age to inherit.

I give to my son Samuell (Daniel, see original paper on File) my whole Homestead lying on both sides of the Highway, with my Lott in the Long Meadow, with half my Lott at Pistoll poynt, with ^ of my Lott lying on the West side of the way as you goe to Hartford, adjoining to the Land of Anthony Martin on the North, the Land of Thomas Ranny South, the Highway & Commons West.

This I say I give to my son Daniel, that is to say, the West end of it, the other halfe of sd. Lott to be to my son Samuel. These aforementioned parcells of Land as specified I give to him my sd. son Daniel & his heirs forever, with the other halfe of my Lott next Weathersfield Bounds.

I give to our Pastor, Rev. Nathaniel Collins, £3, my son Samuel to be sole Executor.

After the decease or marriage of my wife, my Estate to be equally divided amongst my children. I desire Mr. Nath. White & John Savage sen. to be Overseers. Witness: Nath: White, Samuel Stocking Sen.

John Savage sen.

A Codicil, without Change of the above, signed 25 December, 1683.

Court Record, Page 85—6 March, 1684: Will proven.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – A Family’s Increase
By Randy Seaver
Click here for Randy’s original post.

Hey, genealogy fans, it’s Saturday Night! Time for some Genealogy Fun!

Your task, if you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible music), is to:

1) Pick one of your four great-grandparents – if possible, the one with the most descendants.

2) Create a descendants list for those great-grandparents either by hand or in your software program.

3) Tell us how many descendants, living or dead, are in each generation from those great-grandparents.

4) How many are still living? Of those, how many have you met and exchanged family information with? Are there any that you should make contact with ASAP? Please don’t use last names of living people for this – respect their privacy.

5) Write about it in your own blog post, in comments to this post, or in comments or a Note on Facebook.

How Many Descendants Do My Great-Grandparents Roderick and Frances “Fanny” Stocking Have Now?

by Sherry Stocking Kline
October 18, 2009

My Great-Grandparents were Roderick and Frances “Fanny” Stocking. Roderick was born in Butler, Michigan on Dec 25, 1853, and his wife, Frances Hitchcock, was born November 9, 1858 in Crescent City, Illinois.

They had four children, all sons,  Elmer, Ralph, Roderick Porter, and John.

Elmer had nine children, one of which died at birth.

Ralph adopted three children, one died young.

Roderick had three children, one  son and twins, a boy and girl.   He  died young. He was electrocuted while working on high lines. Electricity was fairly new to the area then, and people often did their own wiring, and so accidents happened.

John and his wife did not have any children.

Generation 1  –  4  children – all dead (Roderick Remine’s Children)

Generation 2 –   15 children – 12 dead      3 alive

Generation 3 –   33 children –   4 dead   29 alive

Generation 4 –   39 children –    3 dead   36 alive

When I printed this report out and looked at it, I was shocked that I had so many new entries that needed to be made in my Family Tree Program.

91 members to generation 4, and I think there are at least 30 more individuals that could be added. It has been quite some time since I’ve sent out questionnaires to the families and asked them to fill them out.

We plan to have a family reunion next summer, so it looks like I certainly  have my work cut out for me!  Now I’ve got to get busy and get those questionnaires sent out so that I can learn just how many descendants Great-grandma and Great-grandpa Stocking really do have!

The following is from Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings website!  Thank you, Randy!

Yes, it’s Saturday Night, and time for some Genealogy Fun!

My friend, Leland Meitzler, posted his Top Ten list of “Most Satisfying Genealogy Events” yesterday – and it’s a good list – please read it and respond to it if you want to.

For today’s SNGF, if you choose to participate (cue the Mission Impossible music!), please:

1) Tell us about one (or more) “Satisfying Genealogy Moments” from your family history and genealogy research. What was it, and how did it make you feel? You can make a Top Ten list if you want to!

2) Write your own blog post, or make a comment on this post, or make a comment on Facebook, and tell us about your “moment in time.”

The Day the Genealogy Serendipity Angels Smiled!
by Sherry Stocking Kline, October 10, 2009

My Number One favorite all-time Genealogy Experience was one of those “ahhh moments” when Serendipity and the Angels smiled on us.

It was July of 2005, and my husband and I were leaving soon to visit our son in Illinois, and we were taking my mom who was 93 at the time, to Barren County, Kentucky for a day or two and try to locate my Mom’s dad’s childhood home.

I did some research before I left. I re-checked on library hours, wrote down addresses, packed up a notebook (and laptop), and called the South Central Kentucky Cultural Center in Glasgow, Kentucky to talk to the wonderfully helpful woman I had spoken with on a previous occasion.

I nearly hung up the phone…

I nearly hung up the phone when I learned that the woman who had been so warm and friendly before was not working.

That would have been a mistake.

I sighed to myself,  decided to take a chance, re-state my facts and share my story with the woman who had answered the phone.

“I’m looking for information,” I said, “about my great-grandfather and great-grandmother, Willis Washington Jones and his wife, Martha Ellen Smith and her parents, Charles and Virginia Hawley Smith.”

There Was Dead Silence…

There was dead silence for at least three heartbeats.

And then she said (and here I still get goosebumps) “Charles and Virginia Hawley Smith are my great-great grandparents, too.”

“Oh. My. Gosh.” I thought.

“Hello, cousin!” was my astonished reply. The genealogical angels had not deserted me; they had given me a wonderful gift!

My brand-new cousin’s name was Nancy Bertram Bush, she was ‘into’ genealogy, and she invited us to give her a call when we got to Glasgow.

A couple of weeks later, we were in Glasgow. I stopped at the courthouse, looked up some land records, and learned more about my great-great grandfather Smith’s land holdings.

When we arrived at the South Central Kentucky Cultural Center, I gave Nancy another call and we were in luck, she was home.

Nancy Had a Gift for Mother…

She hurried over to the Center to meet us, (and a nicer new cousin I can’t imagine meeting). She brought along a treasure, a photograph of my mother’s grandparents (complete with the names) that had been mailed back to the family from Kansas and presented it to my mom.

29 - Nancy Bertram Bush, standing and Dorothy Jones Stocking Barry seated.

Mom had never seen photographs of her grandparents and when we brought the photograph home, we were able to identify Willis and his wife Martha in two other photographs that we had.

Nancy offered to take us around Barren County with her husband to try to locate the former home of Willis and Martha Ellen. We went up hill and down dale, we stopped at one family farmstead that had Smith family buried there, and we tramped through tall grass to record names and take photographs, but this was not our destination.

Our next stop proved to be the home of Charles and Virginia Hawley Smith, and we were able to visit with the family and see the land and outbuildings, some of which might have actually been standing during Charles & Virginia’s time.

The Family Cemetery Had Been Returned to Farmland…

Thanks to researching cemetery books we already knew that their family cemetery had been returned to farm land, which was disappointing.

66 - L - R: Nancy Bertram Bush, Norman and Sherry Stocking Kline, Dennis Bush pay respects to family members at the Caney Fork Baptist Church, Temple Hill, Barren County, Kentucky

Next we stopped at the Caney Fork Baptist Church and cemetery and walked through the cemetery and paid our respects to cousins, great-aunts and great-uncles.

When we watched my mother get out of the car and in her words “stand on the land her father had played on as a child” and look around and see “where he came from,” it was a meaningful moment for us all.

We were grateful we were able to help her do this.

Dorothy Barry standing by car next to the Caney Fork Baptist Church & Cemetery - Temple Hill, Barren County, Kentucky

Thank You, Cousin, Nancy…

It was with deep sadness that we received word about two years ago that our new-found cousin, Nancy Bertram Bush, had suffered a heart attack and passed away.

Thank you for a wonderful Genealogical Moment in Time, cousin Nancy.

Here is the Saturday Night – time for some Genealogy Fun! Assignment from Randy Seaver at http://www.geneamusings.com/

“We all have childhood memories, but if you’re like me, you’re concentrating on getting the family history of your parents and earlier generations. Let’s think about ourselves here.

Here’s your mission if you want to accept it …

1. What is one of your most vivid childhood memories? Was it family, friends, places, events, or just plain fun?

2) Tell us about it in a comment to this post, a Comment or Note on Facebook, or in a blog post of your own.”

Building a Pond in the Pasture and the Leaky Tin Bathtub!

by Sherry Stocking Kline
October 4th, 2009

And there was the time we kids built a pond in my folk’s pasture.

We weren’t supposed to.  We weren’t even supposed to be home from school.

My Nephews Were Out of School With Colds

But my nephews (who were nearly my age) had stayed home sick with colds, and so, because they were coming to visit, my mom allowed me to stay home from school, too.

Since it was a mild spring day following several days of rainy weather and since we weren’t very old we headed outdoors as fast as we could and headed for the pasture to see if we could find some water.

We had some pretty deep buffalo wallows in our pasture when I was growing up, and they were a constant source of tadpoles and good place to wade after a rain.

We were in luck that day, the buffalo wallows were full and spring rains had filled the little creeks till we were wading in water that was nearly up to our (four, six and eight-year-old-high) knees.

Soon We Were In Water Over Our Knees

But we wanted it deeper! So we grabbed tree limbs, branches, old boards, and whatever else we could, and dammed up the creek.    Awesome, pretty soon we were wading in water over our knees. One of us scrambled back up to the house, and drug back an old tin bathtub to be our makeshift boat.

We set the leaky old tin tub afloat and for quite awhile we took turns, using an old board for a paddle.

We Had a Lot of Fun Till…

We had our own little pond, and our own little boat (bathtub), in our own (huge) backyard. We were so happy. We were going to have fun forever.

We had a lot of fun that day.

Till we got caught. You know how sometimes when you were a kid your mom would be so annoyed she’d take a whack at your backside, and you’d get another one with each step she took and each word she said?

Well, let’s just say my mom was annoyed, and so was my nephew’s mom. We heard “I’ll never let you stay home from school again,” “you ought to have known better than that,” and “you kids could have drowned.”

I don’t think I ever did get to stay home from school like that again.  But  that day was a lot of fun even if I did have to sit kinda easy in the chair later that night.

Unfortunately, though I’m sure it was for our safety, our little makeshift dam was dismantled, and the Good Ship ‘Tin Tub’ never sailed again.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – Your All-time Favorite Song

(I borrowed this first part from Randy Seaver’s blog at http://www.geneamusings.com/

It’s Saturday Night – time for some Genealogy, and Family History, Fun!

Here is your assignment for the evening – if you wish to participate in the Fun (cue the Mission Impossible music):

1. What is your all-time favorite song? Yep, number 1. It’s hard to choose sometimes. If you made your favorite all-time Top 40 music selections, what would be #1?

2. Tell us about it. Why is it a favorite? Do you have special memories attached to this song?

3. Write your own blog post about it, or make a comment on this post or on the Facebook entry.

Here’s my Favorite Songs – For Tonight Anyhow!
by Sherry Stocking Kline

This is much harder than last week’s blog where all I had to do was try to figure out how to make Family Tree Maker spit out an Ahnentafel report and then figure out which one was “the one” to write about. (by the way, I flunked that test, but did write about an interesting ancestor! Check that out here)

Well, I’m going to ‘flunk’ this week, too, because I can’t just write about one!

I was in high school in the 60’s, and grade school in the 50’s, so there’s a lot of great songs to choose from, and it seems like all have memories attached.

This isn’t my Number One song, but it is one with some great memories attached.

It’s “Li’l Red Riding Hood” by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, and if I’ve done it right, you can listen to a short clip by clicking on the title. (Well, I wasn’t able to pull that off..)

“Li’l Red Riding Hood” was one of those fun-to-sing-along-with songs, so picture if you can, me and three high-school girl partners in crime, some of us with our boyfriends (this was before seat belt law, and before all cars even had seat belts!) all crammed into a small, white, 63′ Ford Fairlane 500, dragging main street with the windows down singing this song and howling at all the appropriate times, and at some of our good friends in passing cars.

(This was back when you could drag main all night after a football game or movie for just $1, and you could stop at Dick’s Drive-In for 15 cent French Fries)

And no, no alcohol was involved or being consumed!  Just a lot of fun between friends who are still friends today.

The boyfriend with me became my husband, and that song was one we laughingly sang on road trips when our kids were little bitty, and they sing to their children today!  Memories don’t get any better than that.

My favorite number one song?  Toss-up between Ben E. King’s  “Stand By Me” in the 50’s and John Denver’s “Take Me Home Country Roads” in the late 60’s.

Raised on a wheat and dairy farm with a 160 acres of land to roam over, and lots of animal pets, I’m a country girl at heart, and whenever I hear “Take Me Home Country Roads” it takes me back home in memory. And whenever I hear “Stand By Me” I think of grade school, high school, sock hops and good friends.

Thanks for another SNGF of fun!

By Sherry Stocking Kline
written for FamilyTreeWriter.com on September 19, 2009

Hello all!  This is my first foray into Saturday night genealogy fun, (see Randy Seaver’s website at http://www.geneamusings.com/) and I will most ashamedly admit that although I’ve done genealogy for 20 years and written about it for 10, I’ve not taken the time to understand the ahnentafel numbers.

Mea culpa. What is it Johnny Carson used to say “so many lashes with a wet noodle?”  Anyhow, I’m not sure, well, actually, I’m pretty darn sure I played the game wrong, but I tried.

Like R. J. Seaver, my father was born in 1911, but he would have been 98, almost 99 by now. So I began with me, and went back almost to 19 back from me. Got to George before 19.  If someone can explain to me how to do an ahnentafel in Family Tree Maker 16, and have it tell me what numbers are what, I’ll re-do my entry here.

My Ancestor is George Stocking

Anyhow, My ancestor is George Stocking, who emigrated to America in 1633. The following is the info from my Stocking Ancestry Book, compiled by Hobart Stocking by research and previous books!

George Stocking, born about 1582, Suffolk, England, married Anna ?

He emigrated to America on the ship Griffith, and settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and built a house there in 1635 at the corner of the present Holyoke and Winthrop Streets.

George joined the Thomas Hooker Party

On May 6, 1635, he was made a freeman. (I don’t know what he was indentured as) He joined the company of the Reverend Thomas Hooker (one hundred in number according to family history) and traveled on foot through the wilderness to the Connecticut River in 1636.

Helped Found Hartford, Connecticut

He was one of the original founders of the city of Hartford, CT, and you can see his name on the stone of founders in the city there, as well as find his tombstone in the cemetery.

George was a prominent proprietor there, and “in the general distribution of land, he received twenty acres, “on the south side of the road from Geoge Steel’s, to the south meadow,” other grants being made later on.

On the death of Anna, whom he had married in England, he is understood to have m. 2d. Agnes (Shotwell) Webster, widow of John Webster, governor of the colony.  The Stocking Ancestry Book states  “It does not seem probable:  Agnes is not mentioned in the 1683 court distribution of George’s property.)”

He took from the first an actiave part in local affairs; was selectman in 1647; surveyor of highways in 1654, and ’62; chimney viewer in 1659, and was excused from military duty in 1660, owing to “great age.”

George became a freeman, October 4, 1669.  (again?? I wonder what this means?)

Living to 101 is Pretty Good for those Times!

He died May 25, 1683, aged 101 years, and his name is inscribed on a large monument erected to the memory of Hooker’s party, and which now stands in the old Center Church burying-ground in Hartford.

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF GEORGY STOCKING:

“15 July, 1673.
“George Stocking of Hartford upon the River of Connecticut planter dos in this my last Will and Testament Give unto Anne my Wife all my housing barn orchards homelott upland and meadow & swamp land cattles and all other estate for her to use during the time of her life, and after her decease to be disposed of as follows.  I doe give to my daughter Lidia Richards the wife of John Richards The sum of (pounts) 14.  and do also give to my dau Sarah Olcott the wife of Samuel Olcott the sum of pounds 10.  I doe also give unto the six children of Andrew Benton, that is to Andrew Benton, Jr., John Benton, Samuel Enton, Joseph Benton, Mary Benton, and Dorothy Benton, the sum of (pounds) 12.  to be divided among them I doe hereby give unto Hannah Camp one Mare.  My will is that these legacies be discharged within one year next after my wifes decease.  My will also is that my wife shall keep the housing and barn in repair unless something more than ordinary befall any of them.  The remainder of my estate to my son Samuel Stocking and make him my executor.  The land to pay its due proportion to the Ministry of the New Meeting house.  I desire Gregory Wollerton and St. Bull to be oversers.
“George Stocking (seal)

“Witness
“Gregory Wollerton
“George Grave,Sen.”

“December 1683.  This Court (at Hartford, CT.) haveing viewed that presented as the last Will & Testament of George Stocking in the circumstance of it, together with what George Stocking (#1) hath declared to George Stocking (a granson, #11) & Captain Allyn & his declaration of his will in part controdicting, doe Judge that the Will presented is of no value, & therefore the Court distribute the Estate as followeth: to Samuel Stocking (Pounds) 100; to Hannah Benton’s children (Pounds) 41; to the wife of John Richards (Pounds) 41; to the wife of Samuel Olcott (Pounds) 41; to John Stocking who had lived with George Stocking, his frandfather, for some years, the remainder of the Estate, being (Pounds) 34, we distributed to John Stocking; and desire & appoint Marshall George Grave and Thomas Bunce to make this distribution.”

It’s Definitely A Small World

One interesting aside note, or interesting to me, anyhow. When six of us gathered here in Sumner County, Kansas some 300 years later to form the Sumner County Genealogical Society, FOUR of us could trace our history back to Hartford, CT founding fathers, and one of us descended from the man Hartford was named for.

Small world indeed, and when we did closer research, a librarian friend and I discovered that our ancestors had witnessed each other’s wills back and forth.