Mix Ancestors Home Towns in England

My Mix family research has been able to go back far enough to identify the towns from which people emigrated before coming to the US.  This is my maternal grandfather's line and includes lots of very English names like:

Bishop
Bliss
Bosworth/Bozworth
Bourne
Bowen
Brotherton
Brown
Burnet
Capen
Chickering
Churchill
Clark
Collins
Cooper
Daggett/Doggett
Deming
Elson
Ensign
Fiske
Foote
Foys
George
Howland
Ide
Kent
Kingbury
Manross
Marshall
Mix
Palmer
Peck
Rockwell
Rowning
Royce
Rutherford
Sims
Smith
Sutton
Tilley
Trowbridge
Turner
Wheatlie

Of course there are a few notable exceptions in calling these English, like the two Welsh surnames (Bourne and Bowen) and the Burnet name which although Thomas Burnet himself came from Braintree in Essex, the Burnet family is actually Scottish and from the Borderlands area of southern Scotland.

As a visual to help me, I went to My Maps in Google and put pins in each town that my Mix line immigrant was born in.  As you can see below, it really helps show the clustering of where this line of ancestors comes from (click to view larger):

So I can see with this that other than Wales and Scotland as mentioned earlier, the Mix ancestors are very clustered in the southern third of England, with a special concentration in East and Southwest England.


After emigrating, this is a very New England-centric line - they came to Massachusetts and Connecticut and those that moved, made their way to Rhode Island, or to Vermont, but then eventually to the Finger Lakes region of New York, which is where my Mix line ends up.

All in all though, a great visual!!

Veteran's in My Family

In honor of Veteran's Day this year, I thought I would pull together in one spot all the veterans in my family that I'm currently aware of!


First off, here are Direct Ancestors that I am aware of being in the US Armed Forces:

1. My Dad!  Richard Kleylein was a Boatswain's Mate in the Navy in 1968.  His ship was the destroyer USS Eugene A. Greene.


2. My maternal 2nd Great-Grandfather John C. MIX was a veteran of the Civil War.

He enlisted in the Union Army in New York in 1864.  He started in the 16th Regiment, New York Heavy Artillery (Unassigned Company), and was later transferred to Company I, 6th Regiment, New York Heavy Artillery.


3. My paternal 3rd Great-Grandfather Kinsey HARRISON, Sr was a veteran of the Revolutionary War.

He was a private in the Maryland line from 1776-1779.

4. My maternal 5th Great-Grandfather Thomas MIX was a veteran of the Revolutionary War.

He enlisted into the 4th Connecticut Regiment of the Continental Army.  He wintered at Valley Forge, PA (the famous cold winter where Washington crossed the Delaware).

5. My maternal 5th Great-Grandfather Squire IDE was a veteran of the Revolutionary War.  He enlisted at Rehobeth, MA into the 22nd Regiment and completed several tours of duty.


6. My paternal 6th Great Grandfather Jeremiah J. LEWIS was a veteran of the Revolutionary War.  He was a private in 2nd Company of Maryland Militia.


After seeing these, I went and searched in my database for any other veterans and there are a LOT!  Only one female was listed (to date that I know of) - and that was my Great Aunt Mary Domelle who was in the Women's Army Corp during World War II.  I also have to give a special shout-out to my Great Uncle Peter Domelle, who attempted to enlist for World War II, but was told his work at the Calumet Steel Castings company was too important and they needed him there.

So, here are other relatives that I know of that were veterans as well:



Revolutionary War

My maternal 5th Great Grand Uncle Enos MIX.

My maternal 5th Great Grand Uncle Oliver COLLINS was in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.

My maternal 1st cousin 7x removed Nehemiah MANROSS. 

My maternal 3rd cousin 7x removed Timothy MIX.

My maternal 3rd cousin 7x removed Jonathan MIX.

My maternal 3rd cousin 8x removed Asa SMITH.

My maternal 3rd cousin 8x removed Ebenezer SMITH.

My paternal 4th Great Grand Uncle Charles SAFFELL.

My paternal 4th Great Grand Uncle James SAFFELL.

My paternal 4th Great Grand Uncle Joshua SAFFELL.

My paternal 4th Great Grand Uncle William SAFFELL.

My paternal 1st cousin 1x removed Benjamin Franklin BECRAFT Jr.

My paternal 1st cousin 7x removed Gassaway WATKINS.

My paternal 1st cousin 7x removed Nicholas WATKINS.

My paternal 1st cousin 7x removed Thomas WATKINS, Jr.

My paternal 2nd cousin 7x removed Leonard WATKINS.




War of 1812

My maternal 5th Great Grand Uncle Oliver COLLINS was in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.

My paternal 5th Great Grand Uncle John W. WATKINS.

My paternal 1st cousin 5x removed Zephaniah HARRISON.

My paternal 2nd cousin 6x removed Gassaway WATKINS.

My paternal 2nd cousin 6x removed Nathan GAITHER was a surgeon in the Army.

My paternal 2nd cousin 6x removed Thomas Jones WATKINS.

My paternal 3rd cousin 5x removed Thomas WATKINS.




Civil War

My maternal 2nd Great Grand Uncle Henry MIX was in the Union Army.  He died during the war in Tennessee in 1864.

My maternal 3rd Great Grand Uncle Benjamin S. JONES was in the Union Army.

My maternal 3rd Great Grand Uncle Gabriel JONES was in the Union Army.

My maternal 3rd Great Grand Uncle George JONES was in the Union Army.

My maternal 4th Great Grand Uncle Isaac JONES was in the Union Army.

My maternal 1st cousin 4x removed Alonzo F. MIX was in the Union Army.

My maternal 1st cousin 4x removed Eugene Philip MIX was in the Union Army.

My maternal 1st cousin 4x removed Franklin M. BURTON was in the Union Army.

My maternal 1st cousin 4x removed Jasper Eugene MIX was in the Union Army.

My maternal 1st cousin 4x removed Squire Collins MIX was in the Union Army.

My maternal 2nd cousin 5x removed Henry MIX was in the Union Army.

My maternal 3rd cousin 3x removed Orange Steadman PINE was in the Union Army.

My maternal 3rd cousin 4x removed Isaac SMITH was in the Union Army.

My maternal 3rd cousin 5x removed Amasa Hotchkiss MIX was in the Union Army.

My maternal 9th cousin 6x removed Calvert Stuart WEBSTER was in the Union Army.

My paternal 3rd cousin 5x removed Gassaway Watkins WARFIELD was in the Confederate Army.  He died in a Union prison camp.



World War I

My maternal 1st Cousin 4x removed Edward John KIRBY was in the Army.

My maternal 2nd cousin 3x removed Hiram N. MADIGAN was in the Army.

My maternal 3rd cousin 2x removed Clarence Vernon MIX was in the Army.

My maternal 3rd cousin 2x removed Paul Irven MIX was in the Army.

My paternal Great Grand Uncle Anton Roman POKORNOSKI was in the Army.

My paternal Great Grand Uncle Michael N. PAWLAK was in the Army.

My paternal 1st cousin 2x removed Bernard C. HARRISON was in the Army.

My paternal 1st cousin 3x removed Joseph LEWANDOSKI was in the Army.  He died in France of Influenza.

My paternal 1st cousin 3x removed Thomas C. PAWLAK was in the Navy.

My paternal 2nd cousin 2x removed Ellis Reuben HARRISON was in the Army.

My paternal 2nd cousin 2x removed Freddie Eugene HARRISON was in the Army.

My paternal 2nd cousin 2x removed John William BURDETTE was in the Army.




World War II

My maternal Great Aunt Mary DOMELLE was in the Women's Army Corps.

My maternal Great Uncle Leslie Homer MIX was in the Army.  He received a Purple Heart.

My maternal Great Uncle William Erwin MIX was in the Army.

My maternal 1st cousin 2x removed Alvin Robert BOZUNG was in the Army.

My maternal 2nd cousin 2x removed Charles HOOSE was in the Army.

My maternal 3rd cousin 2x removed Harold Emerson MIX was in the Army.

My paternal 1st cousin 2x removed , Preston L. ATKINSON was in the Army.




Everyone Else:

My maternal Great Uncle John Francis MIX enlisted in the Army in 1945.

My maternal 1st cousin 1x removed Robert Theodore MIX was in the Army from 1962-1963.

My maternal 1st cousin 2x removed Eugene BOZUNG was in the Army 1958-1962 for the Korean War.

My maternal 2nd cousin 3x removed Richard Freeman KIRBY enlisted in the Army in 1940.

My maternal 3rd cousin 1x removed Charles Raymond DOMELE was in the Army from 1952-1954.

My maternal 3rd cousin 3x removed Charles Gillett SWIFT, born 1867, was in the Navy.

My paternal Uncle David Allen KLEYLEIN, Sr, was in the US Army Reserves.

My paternal 2nd cousin 1x removed John Felix SAKRY was in the Air Force in 1964, he was killed in a B47 takeoff.

My paternal 2nd cousin 1x removed John Frederick KLAVERKAMP, born in 1941, was in the Navy.

My paternal 2nd cousin 2x removed Sylvester Dominic POKORNOWSKI, born 1930, was in the Army.

My paternal 3rd cousin Jonathan T. WALDOCH, born in 1974, was in the Marines.

My paternal 3rd cousin Keith JOHNSON, born 1961, was in the Navy.

My paternal 4th cousin 3x removed Robert Malcolm WATKINS Jr, born in 1932, was in the Marines.

My paternal 5th cousin 3x removed Millard Fillmore WATKINS , born in 1856, was in the Navy for 8 years.

Those Family Stories Are Probably True

When I first started doing genealogy back in the last century and started hearing the oral history of happenings, sometimes I didn't really take them seriously.  I was trying to be objective and would record everything down, but thought to myself, well, sometimes things morph over time, or people put their own take onto things and it's just not what actually happened.  After all, we all have played Whisper Down the Lane (which by the way, we just played at dinner this past Christmas and it was so funny!!!  Probably the wine helped!).

So anyway back to the topic.  The thing is, as the years have passed by and I've made discoveries, what they've done is back up the "stories" I heard.  Turns out oral family history can be much more accurate than I was giving it credit for.  Now I will admit, there are still a few I'm holding out on, they are just a little too fantastic, but here's the latest I think I can now believe in:

My maternal grandmother Ann Mix Domelle told me the story of the circumstances around her maternal grandmother's birth.  Her grandmother was born Hattie Elizabeth Kirby.  She was the daughter of unmarried Laura Kirby.  That would be scandal enough back in mid-1800s rural New York, but the real scandal is that Laura had slept with her older sister's husband.  Hattie was the result of that liaison.

A few months after Hattie's birth, Laura died.  Laura was only 17 yrs old.  Hattie was raised by Laura's parents, Samuel and Lucinda (Gibbs) Kirby.  My grandmother told me that young Laura died from a broken heart.

The sister's name was Sarah Jane Kirby - she married Alonzo B. Chesley (the only time I've ever heard the name Alonzo was when watching Little House on the Prairie as a young girl, so that's how I picture him!).  She didn't leave Alonzo after the affair, they had 12 children, 8 of which were born after Hattie was born.

Sarah was the eldest of her siblings, Laura was 9 years younger than her.  Alonzo was 3 years older than Sarah - so he was 30 years old when his illegitimate daughter was born.

There must have been a lot of forgiveness in Sarah's heart, at least I imagine so, because Sarah and Alonzo's 6th daughter, born in 1868, was named Laura.  Her sister Laura had only been dead 2 years.

So after hearing this story, I never really spent too much time researching the paternal line "Chesley" that came from my 3rd great grandmother Laura Kirby, because after all, how can it be proved that she really did sleep with Alonzo her brother-in-law?

Fast forward to today when all this DNA testing is all over the place and guess what?  I have a 5th-8th cousin who came up as a DNA match in Ancestry.com and the line that leads to our common ancestor for me is Alonzo's line.

 

Certainly it's not enough to stand up in a court of law or anything, but it shows me that the oral history passed down to me about Sarah and Alonzo and Laura is more than likely true.

Scanning Those Negatives

My project this summer was to scan all of my own photo negatives and photos that I’ve had stored away ever since I purchased my first digital camera.  I was under this crazy assumption that I was organized in the storage of my photos, I even had a numbering system, but turns out I don’t know who I was fooling because it was a mess!

Here they all are, and yes, those boxes are full as well:

Ask me how many completely identical shots I have of Cinderella Castle Walt Disney World. 

 

In the end, I scanned my personal photos and negatives from 1979 through to 2007.  I like scanning photos better than negatives because you get microscopic pieces of dirt on negatives that are easily wiped off of a photo.  

The top one below is the scanned negative, the bottom one is the scanned photo, both un-retouched.  If your photo has kept it correct tones and colors, it's definitely easier to scan it rather than the negative:

Add caption

BUT - having the negatives shows me the order I took the photos which was extremely helpful because often the number order was not printed automatically on the back, and for some reason I put the photos out of order in the photo album.  Why would I have done that?  And then I mixed in other people's photos, ugh it was a mess!  :-)  But it's finished now, whew!!!!

So, everything of mine that was a negative or photo is now scanned, divided by sets of negatives.  Future steps will be to figure out any specific dates I possibly can.  I would always write on the envelope for the photos, but rarely included more than the general month!  Sometimes it said “Spring 1988” or “Disney Photos”.  I wish I had written days on there, oh well!

For now I just have some folders that are filed just by developed date, and yes, I had a terrible habit of waiting months, sometimes years before getting film developed.  What was wrong with me?  :-D

 

It was amazing to see how far we’ve come with photos – back in the day we mailed our negatives off and waited weeks to get the photos in the mail, only to find our fingers in front of the lens, or the photos were blurry, or you look like some sort of one-eyed over-exposed weirdo: 

What a great shot!  I should totally make this my profile pic!

 

Now my sister takes thousands of photos in a months’ time.  But I think we value them less now for having so many.  I remember sitting down and poring over my grandparents photo albums.  But as a contrast, today nobody is going to sit and slog through the 12000+ photos we took just last year.

Moral of the story?  Print out a photo now and then!  Give it to your kids so they know how to hold a photo in their hands!  And write the actual DAY it was taken on the back!

Good!  Now get to work!  Next up for me is to scan the box of negatives that belonged to my Grandparents!  Soon, maybe not today though.  :-)

I Dream of.....Architecture

I'm horrible at meeting people, I get so flustered at having to actually interact with another human in person that I never remember their names and I forget their face and I'm also one of those people that cannot recognize people outside of where I expect them to be.  If I work with you 8 hours a day every day at work and then run into you at the Home Depot on a Saturday, I WILL walk right past you with no inkling as to who you are.

I also have a brain cluttered with genealogy and historical facts that have over-written things like the name of a person I worked with 4 jobs ago.  Or the name of a person I went to high school with.

I DO have a wonderfully dear friend I've known since high school who remembers every. single. person. she's ever met, their full and maiden names, birthdays, children's names, previous employers, vacation destinations, everything.  I can't tell you how many times I've said to her "Do I know this <insert name here>" and she'll have all this info just spill out.  Sometimes something she says sparks a dim candle, sometimes I just have to take her word for it.  :-)

I'll tell you what my brain DOES store away though....Architectural details.   Yeah, I know, but it is what it is.  It can be both fun and annoying.

For instance, I'll recognize places used in movies all the time from one movie to another.  I always look at architecture, in movies and real life - when I look at a house in real life, I'll immediately see the addition, I'll see the window that was replaced, I'll see the porch that doesn't make sense and then notice where one used to be.  I'll relate it in age to the houses next to it, older, younger, unique, cookie-cutter, what decade and style it was built in.

One example of a place I always notice in movies/TV is this office building that turns up all the time, I notice it because it's a wonderful atrium in the center with beautiful railings and banisters that they just don't make anymore.  I first noticed it in Wolf, but once it was registered in my brain, I then saw it all the time:

When I watch a TV show or movie that involves moving through some sort of building or house, my mind automatically starts mapping out a floor plan, sometimes its annoying because I realize the movie maker did not take that into consideration and it makes no sense at all.

And beyond all that, I actually dream buildings all the time.  The boring events of my dreams take place in houses, mansions, hotels, cities that are unique to my dreams.   Once I even was exploring a haunted abandoned lunatic asylum!  Yeah, I've watched a LOT of horror movies in my life, lololol.

I find it hard to describe the places verbally to others, I can still see many of the dream places in my head, vividly, in technicolor, but when I try to describe it I say, "oh I was in a house looking for some item".  I'm not sure why that is - maybe there is some connection in my brain that isn't clicking together right but it seems so inadequate to use words to describe my places when I should just be able to beam the picture in my head into your head so no description is necessary.

So that's the background for what happened to make me think about all this.

Lately I've been watching this AWESOME new TV channel (MeTV) that shows all kinds of old shows from the 60s and 70s and I've been watching all these wonderful shows showing the AWFUL way everyone dressed and the AWFUL interior decorating, geeeez what were all thinking!!!!

One of my favorite shows of all time that I watched reruns of as a young child was Night Gallery.  Oh how I loved this show!!  During the summer spending time at my Grandparents I would stay up late and watch the show on Channel 17, it came on at 11:30pm after Laugh-In.  I would set myself up like 6 inches from the TV in the living room, lights off (everyone else was in bed), and patiently sit through Laugh-In, understanding about 5% of the jokes, and then Night Gallery came on.  I hear that the shows were originally an hour, but I've only ever seen the half hour cut up version.

So MeTV has Night Gallery reruns on in the middle of the night and for the past year I just DVR them en masse and pop them on whenever I think of it.  I see now how chopped up the shows are since they are cut down, but my nostalgia prevails and I still watch them.  :-)

Another show I just discovered that I'd never seen before is Columbo.  I know, I know, I knew what the show was, I knew who Peter Falk was, but I'd never seen the show before!  I really like it, it's very charming and there's all these guest stars from the 70s who are just fabulous.

So there I was on a Sunday night not too long ago, all comfy cozy and watching Columbo annoy someone and I realize immediately that I recognize the set.  It's from a Night Gallery episode and I know which one, it was the one with Leonard Nimoy, oh Leonard, Rest in Peace.  The next day I went to the interwebs and voila, there's the Night Gallery episode on hulu (yay Hulu!!!):

And here's the same set from Colombo episode "Requiem for a Falling Star", different door to the outside, changed the pillow color on the wicker furniture (the SAME furniture even!!!!) and voila!:

Apparently, the 2 episodes were filmed a few months apart.

I know it's kind of weird, but I thought it was pretty cool that now in addition to real places I can start cataloging in my brain when sets are re-used between shows.  :-)

I might not remember your face or your name, but if you show me a photo of your house or living room I bet I remember that.  :-)

It does help when I'm scanning old family photos and trying to figure out whose living room or whose house it is so I guess I'll keep it as my strange little talent.