My Great Grandmother, Laura, died leaving 6 children under 10 years old. Upon researching, I discovered that her mother, Mary Hutchins, died leaving her children at young ages as well. Mary Hutchin’s mother died in the Great Boston Fire, leaving her child motherless. Unable to identify Mary’s mother, we don’t know if that is where the pattern started. But through…
My Great Grandfather was Bill Balentine. He told numerous tales that found their way into oral history. Apparently he had a grand sense of humor. I have heard that he changed his name to Balentine to be named after his favorite beer. I also heard he was married to an Indian woman in Maine and had to leave as the…
I have learned a lot from doing family history. One thing that I have learned is to assess a body of work. In other words, when I asked Grampy to write down a historical picture of his life, what is important is not only what he wrote, but what he didn’t. The silence of topic is as important as the…
[add_pedigree id = “3”] Ruth has extensive American history and culture through both her grandmothers, Laura and Inez.