W.I.S.E. Wend./ The Newsletter of W.I.S.E. Family History Society

Volume 8, No.3 Denver, Colorado July, August, September 2007

In a Place That's Not a Place By: Rudy Ramsey

[This is an English translation of a story originally written in Scottish Gaelic by WISE member Rudy Ramsey, and intended for oral presentation. Rudy started studying Gaelic because of his interest in Celtic singing, and it soon became a serious hobby in its own right. Naturally, he now has a special interest in his Gaelic-speaking ancestors, and that's the subject of the story.

The Gaelic version of the story won the original prose competition at the 2004 U.S. National Gaelic Mod. The prize was a scholarship to Sabhal Mot- Ostaig, the Gaelic college on Skye.

A more extensive article including the story below will be published in An Naidheachd, the newsletter of An Comunn Gaidhealach America, the North American Scottish Gaelic Society.]

I've done many things in my life that I found exciting — things like sports-car racing, aerobatics, marathons, taekwon-do. Which events were the most exciting? Well, often, they weren't these things at all, but quiet days when I discovered new pieces of interesting

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Third Quarter 2007 — W.I.S.E. Program Schedule

22 September — Adventures in the Bed Chamber. Presented by Jean McGinnis. Jean McGinnis will enlighten us all as to the advantages of having a big bed. As many of us are aware who have visited large country houses or royal residences the Bed Chamber was more than a bedroom and things other than sleep transpired therein. Jean will describe the rise of the servant hierarchy and the Lords of the Bed Chamber as she explores for us a chapter of English social history. So fluff up the pillows and pull the sheets tight for a rip-roaring view of Lords of the Bed Chamber

6 October — British Isles Genealogy. Presented by Sherry Irvine. Come spend the day with America's "most wanted" British Isles lecturer as she presents four fabulous lectures. Sherry Irvine has something for every British Isles researcher.

Sherry Irvine, MSc, CG, FSA Scot, author and lecturer, has coordinated and taught the courses on English and Scottish genealogy at Samford since 1997 and led BIGHR study tours 1996 -2006. For five years she has lectured at the ISBGFH British Institute in Salt Lake City. In recent years she has presented lectures at national conferences and at many locations throughout Canada and the USA. She has lectured in Australia and New Zealand, most recently as a keynote speaker for the 1 lth Australasian Congress in Darwin, June 2006. She is the author of books on Scottish and English research methods and her articles appear in several publications, electronic and print, including Ancestry Weekly Journal.

(Continued on page 26)

Volume 7, No. 3 W.I.S.E. WORDS Page 26

Third Quarter 2007-W.I.S.E. Program Schedule (Cont'd from Front page)

22 September-Adventures in the Bed Chamber (Continued) Jean McGinnis has a passion for digging. She digs in the dirt and through documents to find the answers to historical riddles. Jean earned her Masters at the University of Denver and her Ph.D. at the University of Colorado. She has undertaken studies at the University of London and the Institute of Historical Research. She is retired from the University of Colorado where she taught British History and from Boulder High School where she taught advanced placement European History and Honors courses. She is passionate about Anthropology and Historical Archaeology.

The starting time for the above program is 1 p.m. at the Denver Public Library, 5th floor, Gates Conference Room.

6 October- British Isles Genealogy (Continued)

Through 2002 and 2003 she was president of the Association of Professional Genealogists and in 2005 was awarded the APG Graham T. Smallwood Award of Merit. She is vice-president of the International Society for British Genealogy and Family History. Present major projects include co-authoring a book on Canadian genealogy and building a new business with a partner based in London, England, a company that offers online courses in British research, Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd

Researching in Britain and Ireland? What is in your online Tool Box? (a look at sites that are not data and are not main gateways, but tools to help you be more effective)

My Bankrupt Scot (Bankruptcy scattered a family across Britain - this is a story of the records used, as well as the tale of the family)

Wills Online - England and Wales and what can be done (there are some wonderful resources online, but there is also a real danger of never properly finishing a search)

Migration Migration in the British Isles (what influenced the move made by our ancestors; and if a trail runs cold can knowledge of migration generate new research ideas?)

Saturday, 6 October 2007 Materials Fees $25.00 Gates Conference Room Pre-Register by 1 October to guarantee handouts 5th Level Western History and Genealogy Nancy Craig, Registrar Central Denver Public Library 3801 Windsor Avenue 10 West Fourteenth Avenue Parkway Colorado Springs, Co 80907-4748 Denver, Colorado 1-719-598-4447

minngirl@earthlink.net

Registration 9- 9:45 Lecture 1 10-11 Lecture 2 11:30 —12:30

Lunch on your own

Lecture 3 2 — 3 Lecture 4 3:30-4:30

Volume 7, No. 3

FROM THE PRESIDENT .

W.I.S.E. WORDS

President's Message

Summer is here and I am not ready.

Yes, back to the garden pulling weeds, stirring the compost heaps and thinking ahead. I know it's barely summer, midsummer by time you read this. How did this all come about you may ask. Well, our calendar is off kilter but then you knew that. We are no longer tied to the agrarian calendar when you planted by the seasons and the signs. December January and February are said to be winter but our calendar marks December 21 as the beginning of winter, yet at Christmas services we sing the lovely song with the verse "in the bleak mid-winter..." as though it were January. March marks the beginning of Spring, yet in Colorado we have lovely snows into May. By the time of St. John's day we have already celebrated mid-summer in June. Oh, as long as the grass grows and the roses bloom I suppose all is right with the world?

Summer is the time of year when we all visit relatives, attend family reunions, or college get-togethers. It is the end of summer; we see church homecomings and the like. I have been planning for many of these events by using my unlimited calling plan during evening and weekend hours. I call people and conduct interviews by telephone. I have rekindled old friendships and reawakened childhood relationships with cousins. We have laughed and cried over our parents and aunts and uncles. My brother has been cleaning out boxes and so he scanned and sent me photographs and letters. I cried as my great uncle John Jeffrey referred to my oldest brother as "our little man." This is

Page 27

the term of endearment my son Anders is known by among his aunts and uncles. I called my brother and we shared this bond of blood. And he gave me addresses of cousins who had been in touch with him. Oh, the connectedness of our research.

I reconnected with dear friends at the National Genealogical Society Annual Conference in the States in Richmond, Virginia. We all enjoyed the Librarians pre-conference held at the Virginia State Library. I had the pleasure of walking in the streets of Williamsburg for a few hours. Another afternoon I spent a couple of hours at Agecroft Hall, a reconstructed Tudor manor house along the banks of the James. So, I got my James K Jeffrey

English fix this year [stop by; I will gladly show off the photographs]. But the highlight of the trip was of course the NGS Conference. I spent my time in the vendors hall chatting up, engaging, networking, gossiping, and visiting with vendors, speakers, and friends.

The British Isles community was duly served with the presence of ISB, the

(Continued on page 28)

IN THIS ISSUE:

In a Place That's Not a Place W.I.S.E. Program Schedule From the President Upcoming Events Officers & Board Members Book Review 2008 Trip to Salt Lake Researchers in Belfast, N. Ireland Coffee and Conversation Come Join Us

Front Front 27 28 28 29 32 33 40 40

Volume 7, No. 3

FROM THE PRESIDENT (Cont'd from page 27)

W.I.S.E. WORDS

International Society for British Genealogy and Family History. WISE member and former newsletter editor, Gordon Gray, is president of ISB. I had the pleasure of speaking with him as David Rencher, noted Irish genealogy lecturer and former Director of the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake worked the booth. ISB sponsored a lovely luncheon, lectures, and an information booth at NGS. ISB Also promoted the upcoming British Isles Institute in Salt. Lake this October. Several of our WISE mem-bers have attended and can attest to the joy of in depth study and research direction that the Institute cultivates. I encourage all WISE members to consider making the British Insti-tute a part of their genealogical future.

So, have you marked your calendar for our big event in October? It is never too early to plan for the visit of Sherry Irvine. She will be our guest Saturday, 6 October 2007. She lec-tures all over the globe and has written a few critically acclaimed books on research in Eng-land, Scotland and Ireland. Her lectures will give everyone a taste of something and should refresh and reenergize all of our research. Here it is summer and we are already thinking ahead to the fall. A genealogist's work is never done and our calendar is always open. May we all have break-throughs and become better British Isles researchers over the course of the year. See you at the Library.

figuogea x. Fejlesef, Aeadegt

Upcoming Events

THE BRITISH INSTITUTE The 7th British Institute seminar will be

held October 8 - 12, 2007 in Salt Lake City, UT.

Vice Presidents Secretary Treasurer Past President Membership Publicity Book Review

Page 28

The British Institute is a weeklong program combining instruction and practical experience.

Each day instructors experienced in British Isles genealogy and research methods conduct classes and seminars in the morning and assist students with their research in the Family His-tory Library in the afternoon.

In addition to guidance in the library, each student can take advantage of the opportunity to meet with the course instructor for a one-on-one strategy session.

(Continued on page 32)

W.I.S.E. Family History Society Dedicated to research in Wales, Ireland, Scot-land, England, Cornwall, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. Attention also directed to the emigration and immigration of these peoples as well as heraldry and one name studies.

Officers & Board Members President James K. Jeffrey

jjeffrey@denverlibrary.org . . Fran & Dan Parker

Eileen M. Langdon Tommie Brett Kadotani Paul Kilburn Bonnie L. Wright John Mossman

Editor Zoe von Ende Lappin Members, Interest. .Terence Quirke CCGS Delegate. . .Thelma Woodard Projects Gwen Mayer

Country Editors: Wales. . . Elizabeth Brown Ireland Zoe von Ende Lappin Scotland John Mossman England Donna J. Porter

Newsletter Staff Editor John Mossman

jmossman I @juno.corn Proofreader Elizabeth Brown Distribution Donna Porter

Volume 8, No. 3 W.I.S.E. WORDS

In a Place That's Not a Place (Cont'd from Front page)

Information about my ancestors. Now that's exciting! I'll tell you about a day like that. It's a true story about my own ancestors and the language of the Gaels.

I had questions on this subject for more than twenty years. At long last, I found the answers. And here's a riddle for you. I found the answers when I was in a place that's not a place, in a time that's not our own. Where was I?

I'm a genealogist — a family historian, really. I have a lot of ancestors who immigrated from Scotland to Northern Ireland, lived there for a generation, and then emigrated to North Carolina. It's a common pattern; known as "Ulster Scots". I have perhaps 15 surnames in my ancestral tree with this immigration pattern.

There's one family like this which has a special interest for me, with the surname "Keahey" these days, or "MacKeachey" or "MacGeachie" in the old country long ago. They emigrated from Scotland to Northern Ireland before 1749. I know this because their three sons were born in Northern Ireland in that year, or the three or four years thereafter. I suspect that they left Scotland after the Jacobite Rebellion, but I'm not yet certain.

They came to North Carolina, reportedly in 1767, but in any case before the American Revolution. They lived nearly 50 years in a Scottish part of North Carolina. I always wondered

Page 29

whether they were Gaelic speakers, and if they were, I wondered how long they retained the language in America. But I didn't think I would ever find such information.

My interest in these questions increased after I started learning Gaelic myself, for reasons unrelated to family history. But even so, I didn't find the answers quickly.

But there came, at long last, a very special day. I was in a place that's not a place, in a time that's not our own. Well, I was on the internet, anyway — a thing that's everywhere and nowhere at all. And I was in a time far, far away from the present. I was reading the history of an old church that was in Mississippi long ago. And there they were -- my ancestors and my answers.

Here's the history. In the year 1816, the three sons emigrated from North Carolina to Mississippi. This wasn't possible for them before then, because their father's health was too poor for such a trip. But their father died, and after a short while, the whole family left to seek their fortune in the new state. The sons were old men by then. They themselves had never lived in Scotland; they had spent nearly half a century in this country; would there have been any trace of Gaelic still with them?

Well, as it happened, they formed a new church in Mississippi — a church called the Philadelphus Presbyterian Church, the name of an old church in North Carolina, where they had lived. According to the history of the new church, it was created in the house of one of my ancestors. And eight of the eleven founding members were my own ancestors or their siblings.

(Continued on page 30)

Volume 8, No. 3 W.I.S.E. WORDS

In a Place That's Not a Place (Cont'd from page 28 )

But here's the most important thing to me: Scottish Gaelic was used in the founders' meetings. The minutes of the meetings were written in Gaelic. They built a new school, too, after a year or two. And there, in Wayne County, in Mississippi, in the true deep south of the United States, every class was taught in the language of the Gaels. And that remained true for several years, until new people came to the area who spoke no Gaelic at all.

A better answer to my questions would not be possible — or that's my opinion, anyway. I don't know yet whether there are papers still surviving from the early days of the church. If so, I'll have an opportunity to read Gaelic written by my own ancestors — ancestors who were in the United States before there was such a place. In a way, they, too, were in a place that wasn't a place — yet. WaralVar/Ar/Ar/Ar/41,411,/41VAIV/AVAr40/4/4,510/402W/A974.7.07.111/41,74174TWAIP7A,ar

Book Review By: Betty Brown

MAYFLOWER, a Story of Courage, Community and War

By Nathaniel Philbrick. New York: Viking, 2006c. ISBN 0-670-03760-5

The story of the historic voyage of the Mayflower, the Mayflower Compact and the start of Plymouth Colony is well known. What isn't so well known is the later history of the Colony. This author starts with the voyage of the Mayflower and traces the development of the Colony, particularly relations with the Indians through the horror of King Philip's War, covering the period from 1620 to 1676.

Page 30

Relations with the Indians under Massasoit who befriended the Pilgrims were not always tranquil, but both sides were serious about living peacefully and succeeded remarkably well at least during Massasoit's lifetime. This passage on page 197 startled me:

"At some point before his death, he [Massasoit] took his two sons, still known by their Native names of Wamsutta [Alexander] and Metacom [Philip], to the home of John Brown in nearby Wannamoisett. There, in the presence of Brown and his family, Massasoit stated his hope 'that here might be love and amity after his death, between his sons and them, as there had been betwixt himself and them in former times."

That John Brown(e) was my 8-great grandfather! Now I know why his son, James, was not killed when twice he met with Philip and tried to persuade him to find peace. We learn from the author's notes (p.392) that "the last reference to Massasoit/Usamequin in the Plymouth Colony records is dated May 4, 1658, in which'he and his son are suspected of harboring an Indian guilty of murder and there is a 1659 deed with Massasoit's signature on it, but it is unsigned." It is after Massasoit's death that relations began to deteriorate. As the author put it:

"By the 1660s, the English no longer felt that their survival depended on the support of the Indians; instead, many colonists, particularly the younger ones, saw the Indians as an impediment to their future prosperity. No longer mindful of the debt they owed the Pokanokets, without whom their parents would never have endured their first year in America, some of the Pilgrim's children were less willing to treat Native leaders with the tolerance and respect their parents had once afforded Massasoit."

On the other side, Alexander did not show the same tolerance for the Pilgrims that his father had exhibited. With this as background, it is not surprising that a conflict eventually erupted, known as King Philip's War. After Alexander's death, his brother, Philip, became

(Continued on page 31)

Volume 8, No. 3 W.I.S.E WORDS

Book Review (Cont'd from page 30 )

the sachem. Philip was full of hatred for the English, but initially agreed to honor the ancient covenant" that Massasoit, his father, and the Plymouth Colony had maintained. Both the Indians and the English kept expanding, needing more land. The fur trade that had supported the Indians in Massasoit's time had diminished. The author chronicles episodes of disagreement as peaceful relations gradually deteriorated, ending in a horrible war that was more than twice as bloody as the Civil War and at least seven times more lethal than the American Revolution. Casualties on both sides were staggering. For example, in the Great Swamp Fight, "more than 20 percent of the English soldiers had been either killed or wounded — double the casualty rate of the American forces at D-Day." Plymouth Colony lost close to 8 percent of its men in the fourteen months of the war, but it was the Indians who suffered the most. From a Native population of about 20,000, at least "2000 had been killed or died from injuries, sickness and starvation took 3,000, 1,000 had been shipped out as slaves and an estimated 2000 left the area." It is estimated that the Native American population of southern New England lost 60 to 80 percent, almost as much as the plagues of 1616-19 had decimated the Native population of New England.

Benjamin Church played a big role in the English defense which he chronicled in his own memoirs. Not only Mayflower Passenger descendants

Page 31

will be absorbed by this story; it is a record that brings new insight for all Americans to our early history.

27 January 2007 program presented by Vicki Trammel

Volume 8, No.3

Upcoming Events (Cont'd from page 28)

THE BRITISH INSTITUTE

Courses offered at this year's Institute:

Basic Welsh Research: One day session consisting of four lectures. Presented by Darris Williams, AG

Your Basic Migrant: Problems, Routes, and Strategies. Presented by Sherry Irvine, MSc, CG, FSA Scot

Irish Research: Sources and Methods for research in Ireland. Presented by David Rencher, AG, CG, FIGRS, FUGA

An online registration form can be obtained at http://www.isbgth.org. If interested a brochure can be picked up at the Denver Public Library on the 5th floor

000000

2008 trip to Salt Lake City

WISE is going to Salt Lake City again — the week of April 6-13, 2008. We will stay at the Carlton Hotel, as we did in 2007, with the same room rates: $252.50 per person double occupancy, $437 single occupancy and $231 per person triple. These include seven nights lodging, roundtrip airport transfers, breakfast and taxes. A $50 per person deposit will be required by February 15, with final payment due March 15. Sally Garcia of Atlas Travel of Lakewood again will arrange the accommodations and participants will handle their own transport. Sign-up sheets will be coming

W.I.S.E. WORDS Page 32

with the fourth quarter edition of WISE Words and at program meetings. Feedback encouraged and appreciated. Contact Zoe Lappin, 303 322-2544 or ZI,appild),hotmail.com

24 March 2007 program presented by Marilyn Lyle and Marylee Hagen

Volume 8, No. 3 W.I.S.E.

The Salt Lake City Research 15

Back row left: Don Roberts, Karen Zink, Judy Phelps, Thelma Woodard, DuaneDuff, Sandy Carter-Duff; Tommie Kadotani, Zoe Lappin, Ginny Haen,

In middle: John Nyberg. Front row left: John Mossman, Dorothy Kratzer, Barb Walker, Charleen Roberts, Betty Olsen.

Pace 33

Researchers in Belfast, Northern Ireland

WISE members rendezvous back where it all began, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Sandy Carter-Duff, left, and Duane Duff, had lunch together on May 25, 2007, at the Linen Hall Library tearoom in downtown Belfast. The Duffs were on an extended research trip to the British Isles and Zoe was visiting her daughter and son-in-law who live in Belfast, as well as doing a little research.

Volume 8, No.3 W.I.S.E. WORDS Page 34

Coffee and Conversation

When: Thursday, 28 September 10:30-11:30am

Where: Central Denver Public Library Western History and Genealogy 5th Level-Gates Reading Room

Enjoy a good steaming cup of coffee as we discuss the latest finds and treasures in Genealogy. We will meet under the derrick in the Gates Western History Reading Room. We will discuss the latest books, electronic resources and of course old standards and favorites.

Make a day of it and come for Coffee and Conversation.

W.I.S.E. Wales, Ireland, Scotland, & England Family History Society P. 0. Box 40658 Denver, Colorado 80204-0658

COME JOIN US W.I.S.E. Family History Society is dedicated to research in Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England.

Monthly meetings are generally held the fourth Saturday of most months at the Central Denver Public Library, Gates Conference Room, fifth floor and begin at 1:00 in the afternoon.

Membership is open to anyone with interest in family history and genealogy. Membership dues are $12 for an individual or $15 for a family at the same address for the calendar year which runs from January to December.

ALL ARE WELCOME