Episodes
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James Jacob Rogers 1706 Ireland 1752 New Hampshire
Into the frontier ten miles from the nearest settlement, James Jacob Rogers and Mary McPhedren Rogers from Londonderry, Ireland relocated their family of ten children in the Merrimack River Valley, near what would be called Dunbarton, New Hampshire. Only a wilderness, in a thick dark forest of...
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The Siege of Derry
King James II appeared before the walls of Derry, Ireland. The town was asked to surrender and they refused. The siege began when storming the walls failed and they resorted to starving Derry out. My sixth great grandfather John Barnett Sr. would survive His wife died on the trip to America and...
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Gramma Watkins was Wanted by the Sheriff
I think my 8th great grandmother Elizabeth Watkins Stockley Stratton, 1633-to after 1697, liked to say, "I'm not finished yet and it's not yours till I am!" Through the court cases at Accomack County, Virginia her tale is told of evading the sheriff. What a life she led, living through hurricanes...
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How John Stockley Jr. 1621-1673 Acquired Land
My 8th great grandfather John Stockley was a tobacco planter. This is the story of Colonial Virginia, where he acquired the plantation at Assawoman, Accomac County, Virginia. John used the "headright" and became a wealthy man with servants and lands. His will leaves an inheritance to seven sons…
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Courtcases, a Cow, a Murder, and Directions to Uncle Francis Stockley Plantation
I hope you enjoy listening to the court cases of my Aunt Joane Hall Stockley Custis, married to Francis Stockley brother to my 8th grandfather John Stockley 1621-1673. These stories give a glimpse of life in the early Virginian colonies.
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The Anglicans in the Early Virginia Colonies
John and Elizabeth Watkins Stockley were my eighth maternal grandparents. Church attendance was compulsory and fines were issued. I can just picture John and his brother, Francis, who got fined inattentive, bored and sleeping, whispering, staring out the windows or into space. Then, as tobacco...
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Elizabeth Woodman Stockley, My 9th grandmother
Crossing the Atlantic Ocean by 1621 Elizabeth was married and living near Jamestown, Virginia in British Colonial America. She was only 7 miles away from the Powhatan Uprising of 1622. Her children prospered by transporting people to the colony in exchange for land. I was able to trace her...
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The Trial of Young
Alexander Young had a pretty young daughter, only 17. This is a love story turned tragic, in a time when the circuit courts travelled to the people. It is a love story of caring for an insane wife. And a family who took in a child of ten when his mother died. Orlen went to live with his...
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Let's Go Homesteading at Gilpin, Alberta
These were the words my second great grandfather Hiram, 59 said to his wife Mary Elizabeth Smith Gibbs 53. For $10 homesteading fee, they could own 160 acres, after they "proved up" in three years. The entire family agreed to this new venture except for oldest daughter, Nellie Mary back in Iowa....
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Manifest Destiny - Montana
Looking for opportunity and land, my 2nd great grandparents Hiram Gibbs and Mary Elizabeth Smith would hear the call of manifest destiny and head west, after the devastating Thumb Fires of 1871 and 1881 at Port Hope, Michigan. Fruit growers in the beautiful Bitterroots of Montana near Kalispell...
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Fires at the Thumb 1871 and 1881
What would you do if you saw a wall of fire, roaring, cackling, out of control coming at you? The Smith's and Gibbs at Port Huron, Michigan lived through not one but two of mother nature's monster fires pushed by hurricane winds. They had to be strong to survive the destitution and human misery.
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Port Hope, Michigan My grandparents were early settlers
James William Smith and Mary Elizabeth Wilson my 3rd great grandparents, were early settlers at St. Mary's Ontario and then started over by moving to a newly settled Port Hope, Michigan. This was a lumber town, where James blacksmithed and farmed. It's a story of reconciliation after the Wars…
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From St. Mary's, Limerick, Ireland to St. Mary's Ontario
A motherless boy of 11, James William Smith my 3rd great grandfather makes his way to Canada to wed a young 14 year old girl, Mary Ann Wilson, in 1832 of Loyalist descent. The couple are early settlers at St. Mary's Ontario. James William is a blacksmith. By 1860 they have moved to Port Hope,...
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Saint Mary's Cathedral, Limerick Ireland A Wedding 1806
Anthony, Nicholas and James William, 3 generations of my Smith grandfathers, each joined the British army in Ireland. Today's podcast is the wedding of Nicholas and Alicia Jephson at St. Mary's Cathedral, in Limerick, Ireland. Imagine entering the elaborately carved door, looking up the 120 foot...
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An Irish Wedding 1780 at Nobber, Ireland
Adding the surname Smith to the ancestry tree, with some Irish roots connected to the British Army. Anthony Smith 87th Regiment, Nicholas Smith 97th Foot Soldier, James William Smith 43rd Foot Soldier, my 5th, 4th and 3rd great grandfathers. James William was motherless at age 11 and joined the...
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Hay Bay Tragedy 1819
Always be ready, to go at God's call. Death may be sent for you and enter your door. I can imagine my 3rd Great Grandmother, Mary Sarah Wilson, memorizing these words in school. She was only a baby when the tragedy occurred but the poem was recited and memorized for the next two decades and the...
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Hay Bay Camp Meeting
Rev Nathan Bangs 4th cousin 6 generations ago organized the First Camp Meeting for the Methodist Church in 1805. His eye witness account found in his personal journal relates the spiritual journey of my ancestors, the Millers, and a religious revival that lasted several more generations.
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Saddle Bag Preacher
Reverend Nathan Bangs circuit rider at the Bay of Quinte would organize the first Methodist camp meeting and play a major role in frontier evangelism. A glimpse into life of my 6th great grandparents Garrett Miller U.L.E and his wife Elizabeth Switzer.
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Always Be Kind, The Queen vs Corby Courtcase
What did the Honorable Jason Miller Mack say about Mrs. Corby?
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The Naming of Garrett Nelson Trafalgar Miller
A song by Michael Johnson reminds me, If you love me give me wings, and don't be afraid if I fly, you can trust me give me wings. I like to think of Garrett Nelson Trafalgar Miller giving his wife Maria Morris those wings during the Victorian Era. Besides his unique name, Garrett is my second...
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Of Pirates, Prizes and a Pinafore
A diary from a crusty seaman, written in 1799 holds the key to a ship's name, Diligence, and what she captures. Uncle Jacob Miller's child, Garrett is delegated Commissioner, issuing the letters of marque during the War of 1812. Come on a journey from Ireland, to America, flee the Revolutionary...
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They Said Canada Would Be Easy Pickings
Uncle Jacob Miller and his son Garrett, were legitimate pirates during the War of 1812. It was all legal. And the Americans were eyeing the Canadian frontier to expand in, thinking and saying Canada would be easy pickings. Ah hoy, mates, imagine waking up after a night full of rum, and finding…
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Grief and Abandonment Martin Miller
Emotional sadness, and grief can be overwhelming. Treat yourself kindly, and walk in the moccasins of Martin Miller.
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A Barnardo Boy
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://apictureand1000wordsblog.wordpress.com/2021/04/11/a-barnardo-boy/ Having never heard of the Barnardo Home Children, its an interesting yet sad tale of improvished children from Britain sent to Canada to mostly work on farms for 80 years.…
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Vicissitudes of a Court Case
A story of overcoming the vicissitudes of life, a change in fortune or circumstance, a story of my 6th great grandparents Garrett and Elizabeth Switzer Miller.
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Garrett Miller vs Peter Sparling, A Court Case
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://apictureand1000wordsblog.wordpress.com/2021/04/05/garrett-miller-vs-peter-sparling-a-court-case/
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The Story of Patience Rose
By the end of the Revolutionary War, the Loyalists were relocated by the British to Canada, in an evacuation from New York. Patience Rose Switzer was acknowledged in her role during the Battle of Saratoga many years later by the British government. This is her story and although I have taken...
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The British Are Coming!
The setting for my 6th great grandparents is the Revolutionary War, particularly the Battle of Bennington, August 16, 1777. What surprised me was when I found other family members on the opposite side of the War which means they were shooting at each other. Wounded, imprisoned, escaped, and a...
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I'll Be Home By
When my 6th great grandfather, Garrett Miller, marched away to join the British in the Revolutionary War, he didn't think he would be gone long! This is the story of how one man, Justus Sherwood, came into the Irish-Palatines lives, at Camden Valley, New York, and changed Canadian history…
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Garrett Miller The Loyalist
The Miller family were Irish-Palatines just arriving a few years before the Revolutionary war broke out. They, as other Palatines, suffered severe punishments for holding beliefs that their fellow Americans rejected. When they heard the murmurings of independence from Britain for the colonies,...
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Katherine Elizabeth Ruckle Irish-Palatine Immigrant 1690-1755
A journey as a refugee, from Palatine Germany by my 8th great grandmother to Sir Thomas Southwell's estate under the shadow of the Castle Matrix, Rathkeale, Ireland. With Irish DNA of 12% and a match with Uncle Tobias, I'll celebrate St. Patrick's Day and claim my Irish-Palatine history.…
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Adding More to the Switzer Story of 3 Generations of Johann Jacob Schweitzer
It isn't hard to remember my 11th, 10th, and 9th great grandfathers! They were all named Johann Jacob Schweitzer. The records of the court being held in Assenheim, after the Germans had wandered during the Thirty Years War, was helpful in telling their stories. A tale of romance and prosperity,...
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Peter Switzer to America
Peter my 7th great grandfather and his wife Anna Marie Guier came to America with 4 children, the eldest being my 6th great grandmother, Elizabeth. Imagine living in a partitioned off barn before a death gave them a home and a rented farm. The Revolutionary War was about to break out, and enter a...
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Philip Guier, Irish Palatine
Dedicated to my son, Philip, I thought my German relatives story would be one of fleeing the wars and cold of 1709, when at the invitation of Queen Anne they came to England and as refugees were resettled in Ireland and farmed. End of story. Not so! The stories of Philip Guier, Christopher…
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An Irish Palatine Johann Christopher Schwertzer
A freezing cold weather event left Continental Europe in its grips for three months, 1709. The is a story of survival of my 8th great grandfather and his journey to a better life.
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A Picture and 1000 Words, Someday I'm Going to Tell You The Story of My Life
I always said I was going to write the story of my life! This I did, then turned to researching historical family ancestors and blogging Apictureand1000words at WordPress. From the blog I'm going to start my first Podcast, dedicated to my future great grandchildren. In my own voice I'm retelling…
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