Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Board URL: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara?read=164 Surname: ------------------------- Am looking for my oldest brother who was born in Buffalo, NY in Erie County, on the above date. He was placed with his adoptive parents, somewhere in New York State, at around the age of 15 months old. (It's quite possible his adoptive parents were from Niagara County.) Prior to that he was in Foster Care. His adoptive parents were both Protestant and in their early 30's when they "received" my brother. His adoptive father was described as "active in the community", he was employed in an industry requiring "electronic skills". He was also of English/German descent. My brother's adoptive mother was a homemaker and of Irish/Germam descent. They were both high school graduates. They had no other children at the time they adopted my brother. No other children were ever adopted by the particular agency that handled my brother's adoption. My brother was born Stephen Miller. His name was changed by his adoptive parents. At this time I don't know what they named him or their names. If any of this sounds familiar please email me at: tabitha@carlsbadnm.com . Thanks!!!

Does anyone on the list know anything about a Hibernian Soc. in Lockport from the 1850's on, & if so, where might their records be located? Carolyn brustay@rochester.rr.com

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Board URL: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara?read=163 Surname: Pierce, Ellsworth, West, Barnhart ------------------------- Looking for information about James Monroe Pierce, born in Niagra county circa 1820. He probably had a brother named Christopher Columbus Pierce 9/17/1822. both of these follows moved to Chautauqua county by 1831 where they married and raised a family.

HI List, My gg grandfather Eli CHASE, was b. 19 Nov. 1812 [determined from tombstone inscription] d. Tonawanda, Erie Co., NY Sept 1881, bur. Wrights Corners Cemetery, Niagara Co., NY. He married Betsey WHEELOCK, dau. of Joel WHEELOCK and Chloe EDDY Wheelock, abt 1834, as their first child was listed as b. in Monroe Co., NY. I am trying to prove the parents of Eli CHASE. I do believe they are Isaiah CHASE who mar. Esther BEEDLE, in Bath, Grafton Co., NH. The 1820 Sweden, Genesee Co., NY Census has listed Abel CHASE, Isaiah CHASE [stated above is Abel's son] and John BEEDLE [John is Esther's father]. Possible siblings of Eli CHASE - Isaiah, Jr. m. Patience WILLIAMS abt 1829, Monroe Co., NY; Abel J.; Hazen, d. 1876, Sweden, Monroe Co., NY; Lois [Louis, female who m. Joel WHEELOCK, Jr.] Is anyone else tracing this family or any of the collateral lines? I have a lot of information on these families that I would be willing to share. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Dolores Gunn Apple Valley, CA

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Board URL: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara?read=162 Surname: KENDRICK ------------------------- KENDRICK, James & Jane's children born in Lockport, Niagara Co. Wm James 1855, Josiah 1858 & Rebecca Jane 1861.James Kendrick from Ontario but lived in Lockport from 1854 to 1860's, when they returned to Toronto, Ontario. Trying to determine why they went to Lockport. Looking for any decendents or info on this family. Karen Woodworth 2580 Kaslo Street, Vancouver, B.C. email:karenwoodworth@telus.net

In a message dated 06/15/2000 9:34:31 AM Pacific Daylight Time, mjodouglass@webtv.net writes: << Is there anyone in the Niagara County area willing to look up some info for me. I found in PERSI on Ancestry.Com an article which appeared in Notes From Niagara. The article is ..... <snip> ... Thanks, Mary Jo Douglass >> Hello Mary Jo and all... Just re-read the above... and was wondering about it. Since you found the reference in PERSI, I assume that "Notes from Niagara" is a periodical? Does anyone know what this is? Who published it? When? Has anyone here on the list read it? debbie (Happy 4th of July to you all - hoping that sometime today - these California tv stations will televise the ships coming into NY harbor!!)

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Board URL: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara?read=161 Surname: Kelly, Curtis ------------------------- I am researching the Kelly family from St. Lawrence Co, New York. I am wondering if these may look familiar to your Kelly family in Niagara Co, New York. I have the following People: Ruth Kelly-Born May 18, 1902; Married to William W. Curtis who was from Oswegatchie, St. Lawrence Co, New York Robert Kelly-Born March 24, 1909 William Kelly-Born March 05, 1908 in Wilmington, Delaware Their parents were possibly William Kelly and Mary Mullarkey. Thank you for your time, Barbara

OK, Gang, I just talked myself into revealing what my Aunt Rhea (1906-1990) wrote in a letter that was sent to our Housman family back in 1988. For the longest time (over 25 years?) we had a Round Robin letter going-- a letter that was sent on from one family member to the next which included the letters that the other family members had written in reply. Aunt Rhea knew of my intense research of our Housman family history and I guess she felt that it was about time that all of us needed to learn something about her/our grandmother (my great-grandmother), born 1852, died 1935. Note, the reference to where they lived was in Dauphin Co., PA. This is what I typed up regarding Aunt Rhea's letter. vee Letter written by Rhea (Housman) Britsch which she had enclosed in the Housman Round Robin letter in December 1988. She was 82 years old and her vision had become very poor. She had dictated it to her sister-in-law, Shirley Housman, wife of Ben Housman, Sr. Rhea died in 1990. Letter transcribed by Vee, the daughter of Rhea's brother Charles W. Housman. Dec. 14, 1988 Dear Round Robiners, I have not written in the Round Robin for a long time but now there is something I want from Vee. Vee, you talked about a history of Grandmother Housman. I would like to have a copy of whatever material you have about her and her family. Whatever it costs, send me the bill. I wish each of you would have known your Grandmother Housman, known to everybody who knew her as Mother. My own mother whom I loved dearly said of her, "I never knew what a real mother was until I had a mother-in-law!" Our grandfather came from Germany when he was 16 without knowing a bit of English. Yet he and Grandmother Housman reared a family, none of whom ever spoke a word of German, and the last of which, Uncle Bill, was an attorney. I don't believe Grandfather ever worked anywhere but the Bethlehem Steel Co. I believe someone from the Steel Co. met the boat in Philadelphia and offered him a job and he worked there until he retired, which meant 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. Yet they lived on a farm which is now in the area between Steelton and Highspire known as Cumblers Heights. Uncle Charlie sold milk throughout Steelton. I don't know when they found time to farm. I do know by the time that Mom and Pap were married, they owned their own home on Second Street in Steelton and the farm on which I grew up. Only since I am much older do I realize that they must have been a very remarkable couple. I do know that Grandfather Housman had a love for hi-brow music and they had a Victorola upon which Caruso and other very fine musicians were featured. Grandfather never really learned to speak English well. He always spoke with an accent. But Grandmother was able to create a kind of life that I wish all of you could have known her. I'm glad that a little bit of her is in me and I hope a little bit of her is in you because I feel that Pop as he was known by, earned the money by hard work and she created the good life. One other thing you might like to know about her; Glenn told me when she found out that he had not been baptized, the next time they went to Steelton, she took him to the Pastor of the Lutheran Church and had him baptized. Don't you wish you had known her? Love to you all, Rhea (dictated to and written by Shirley

Dear Group, You don't know how much you have warmed my heart with your sincere responses to my message. Most of them were sent to me personally and most of them were brief--but very sincere. For example, The best thing about my grandma's aprons, is that I now own all of them! I am a lucky girl! and Sure miss that sweet woman and her soft English accent. and It sure brought thoughts of my own grandmother rushing back and I do remember Grandma's apron - I even have a photo of her in one of them!.. She passed away when I was only 9 so this brought back wonderful memories. The point of this message is not only to thank those of you who have sent me personal messages on the subject but to point out to others who may be skeptical as to what a story about Grandma's apron has to do with your intense research for information about your ancestors and their lives. Look at it this way. Many years from now, wouldn't your great-grandchildren cherish even a hastily written story about your very own grandma and what you remember about her in her house dress with the apron over it? Did she wear her hair twisted up in a bun on top of her head or did she have a tight perm? She had a stearn look about her, didn't she? And she was always so disapproving, wasn't she? But do you remember how soft her face felt to your touch? And when you begged her for a penny to go candy shopping, you always managed to wheedle it out of her, didn't you? Grandmas are so special in our memories. They may have been stearn, they may have been loving or they may have even been boozy. But no matter how she was, if you remember Grandma, tell the kids about her. More importantly, write your memories of her down. In the long run, if the kids continue (hopefully) to be interested in the history of your family, they'll treasure your memories of Grandma because you're telling it like it was when you actually KNEW her. Lordy, wouldn't you just kill to find a story that your Grandma wrote down about her memories of HER Grandma?? vee in youngstown

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Board URL: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara?read=160 Surname: Castle ------------------------- I am hoping that someone can do a obit lookup for me. Mary Castle DOB 9/19/21 d. 1/21/97 Lockport, Niagara Co. NY Your help in this matter is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much. Kim Please e-mail me at kimj_53@yahoo.com

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Board URL: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara?read=159 Surname: Kelley, Hicks, Murtaugh ------------------------- Researching family of John Kelley/Kelly, son of William Kelley/Kelly & Irene Smith. John b. Ireland abt. 1826; in Newfane, Niagara Co., NY abt. 1850, d. Newfane July 15, 1868. Married Margaret Hicks, b. May 18, 1815, Ireland; d. May 14, 1901, Carlton, Orleans Co. Children: Mary Jane marr. James Murtaugh; William marr. Mary Carrigan; Anna marr. Patrick Crossen; Elisa d. @ 6 yr; Joseph marr. Harriet Fisk. John & Margaret & Elisa buried St. Bridget's Cem., Newfane. Anyone researching these families? Will share info.

Hi All, Of course not to be outdone by Vee's great story about grandma's apron, I must remind you of grandma's quilts. Remember cuddling up under the quilts greandma made & finding within the pattern bits & pieces of cloth left from sewing projects such as... grandma's aprons ? cousins pajamas? kitchen curtains? dinner napkins? picnic basket liner? rag rug remnants? Most of all, however, I remember the quilt as a final resting place for bits of grandma's beloved aprons. I treasure the quilts I still have, most of them over 50 years old, primarily because they are pieces of grandma in my mind, and provide an instantaneous trip back to my childhood, as much as picking raspberries or eating stewed rhubarb. Susan McMackin Reynolds Lewes DE

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Board URL: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara?read=158 Surname: Westcott ------------------------- Looking for relatives of Nathaniel F. Westcott originally from Niagara Co. NY. Any info would be appreciated.

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Board URL: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara?read=157 Surname: Darling ------------------------- I would like to get copies of land records of land purchased by Jedediah Darling, Amasa Darling, and other Darlings, who purchased land from the Holland Land Company in what is now Niagara County, NY. Jedediah's first land contract was in 1802. How and where can I get this information.

Dear Vee and group, I loved the apron story and also reading about Cora, Vee. What a woman! Regarding the HACKETT name, I remember Jack Hackett very well. Was he related to Glenn? He is pictured in the 1925 senior class yearbook of Niagara Falls High School. He was also a good friend of our family. I seem to remember that he sold real estate in the Falls. Can someone tell me how to subscribe to the Niagara County Genealogical Society Newsletter? Thanks. Carol Greenwald Scouler

Dear Group, This evening I called my dear friend, Cora Gushee, our local Town of Porter Historian, with just a personal question that didn't have ALL that much to do with the history of our town. In the course of our conversation she mentioned that she had read a query in the most recent Niagara County Genealogical Society newsletter from someone who had mentioned the HACKETT family of Town of Wilson. She said she had been very tempted to respond to it, but felt that the only information she could contribute regarding the family was just her personal memory of the family. And then Cora and I had an interesting conversation regarding the Hackett family of Wilson. First off, Cora was born in March of 1903 in Town of Wilson. Yes, she's 97 years old but don't let her age fool you. Her brain is still so active and is filled with so much historical information that it's a pity that we can't just cut-and-paste all that huge amount of information. Cora started out by telling me that the query had to do with Justus Hackett. Well, she remembered him-she remembered that he was always called Jud. She remembered when she was a young girl in Wilson when he was the Postmaster. She figured that she must have been around 15 or 16 years old at the time and when she went to the post office to pick up the mail, he would always embarrass her whenever she received a post card from someone. He would always read it out loud to her in front of everyone else at the post office at the time. But then she also remembered that during the time that Jud had a dairy farm, he would pick her up and take her to school, and on the way he would deliver his milk to the train. She also mentioned that he had a son Glenn Hackett who had a grocery store in Niagara Falls. And when she mentioned that, the first thing that popped into my mind was Hackett's Bakery. I asked her if it was the store on Main St. right next to the First Baptist Church? Yes! Oh, wow!! I REMEMBER it! I then told her why I particularly remembered it. It was during the long years of WW II when butter was so scarce that it was called "Dairy Gold." One cold winter day Mother came home with a loaf of fresh bread from Hackett 's that was still warm and with it she brought home one quarter of a pound of real BUTTER! Mother was so excited when she came through the door with her bag of groceries and I remember her blurting out to me, "I found some BUTTER!" And even though we knew it wasn't fair to the other members of the family who weren't there right then, Mother and I sat right down and had the most delicious treat in all of our lives-a slice of fresh warm bread from Hackett's Bakery spread with real BUTTER! I can still remember the occasion. I was about 11 years old then (ca 1942) and there was just Mother and me sitting across the kitchen table from each other feeling absolutely decadent that we were enjoying such a treat when the rest of the family didn't even know that we had butter on the table. Nothing in my life has EVER tasted as good as that! But I also remember that Mother limited us to only one slice of bread and butter. Oh how difficult it was for both of us for her to set such a limit! So that was about the extent of my conversation with Cora this evening. However, after we hung up, I was curious to see if I could find out something about old Jud Hackett who Cora still remembers so clearly. And, By George, there he is in the local history books! He was Justus W. Hackett, born in Wilson, NY, on Oct. 14, 1854, son of Justus W. and Betsey (Felt) Hackett. And, yes, he was the Wilson Postmaster from 1914 to 1918, just as Cora had remembered-she said she was around 15 or 16 years old at the time (she was born in 1903). And Cora KNEW him and REMEMBERS him! Now here's what's a bit of a pity. Cora had noticed that the person who had posted that query in the Niagara County Genealogical Society newsletter had included his/her email address. Now, none of us want to discourage anyone with access to email from NOT posting queries to a newsletter that is mailed out via the post office and, instead, post them to our list or to the appropriate RootsWeb site. All of us know that RootsWeb is the best way to go to post queries and get responses. But do you know what? If someone had posted such a Town of Wilson HACKETT query to our list or anywhere else, I wouldn't have recognized the family name and maybe I wouldn't have been encouraged to research the family further. Chances are that I would have just read it over and then deleted it. But leave it up to dear old Cora! She may not have a computer or an email address, but there are some times when she just has to tell me about a query that she has read and wants to share with me what she remembers about the family. As a result, if there are any of you out there who want to know what the history books have to say about Justus Hackett, just ask me. Who knows but what I could encourage Cora to give some more details that the history books don't cover! vee

Dear Group, For over 24 hours I haven't been able to receive any of my incoming email messages However, during the same period of time it appears that those message I have sent went off. Therefore, I'm still working without a clue if there is anyone out there! I have an idea that IF I receive the messages that would normally be stacked up in my Inbox over this period of time, I'll be a bit overwhelmed to the point that it will take me a bit of time to respond. So, if I never respond, just send me another message. "Stuff" like that happens to us once in awhile, doesn't it?! vee from youngstown

I am researching the surname BOWNE and allied families 1600 to present especially 13 original colonies. Jesse Martin Bowne b aprox 1859 Clayville Oneida Co NY worked in a cotton mill d aprox 1950 Joseph Bowne b 1827 Whitestown NY a farmer d ? Kenneth Jay Bowne b 1904 Holliston Massachusetts d 1995 especially Bownes of Elmira NY The following are some of the allied families BERG,BEACH,CARD,CAFFERS,CAFFERY, EMBREE,FIELD,LIPPINCOTT,LEGGETT,LAWRENCE ,MOTT,MARTIN,NEVIUS,NEWBOLD,OWEN,RAPALJE, SANDS,STORM,SMITH,SCHENCK,SOUTHGATE,STEDWELL,TITUS TRUAX,NIXON,SUTTON,STARR,TAPPAN,BAIRD,BEEBE,BURPEE DOYLE,KEESE,HUNT,MINTURN,PEARSALL,READING,SALTER, SCHUYLER,STILLSON,STOUT,SWEETLAND,THORNE,TOWNSEND LINCOLN, NO OTHER SPELLING EXCEPT BOWN NO BOWEN OR BROWN I am not neccessarily extending out allied names only Bowne spouses names but I will give you as much info I have Thanks Audrey Bowne Seattle gbowne@email.msn.com

Sure miss that sweet woman and her soft English accent. Thanks for the memories ladies.

Dear Group, In Susan's message today, she mentioned Grandma's apron and, well you know me, it reminded me of a story I wrote several years ago on the very same subject. During an ordinary day, neither Grandma nor Mother were without their aprons. I hope you enjoy the story. vee from youngstown GRANDMA'S ALL-PURPOSE APRON Do you remember the apron that Grandma wore? You know, the one that wrapped half way around her, tied in the back in a bow and had a big bib to it? Oh, the many uses she had for that apron! First, of course, it was to protect her house dress from getting dirty. But, that was only the beginning. Aprons always had a least one pocket. She may have had a hankie stuffed into it but more than likely she used the pocket for a place to put little odds and ends she picked up around the house--hair pins, toy parts, buttons, maybe a clothes pin or two--any little thing that needed to be put back in its place. Aprons were rarely spotlessly clean. Over time they got stained at the belly from leaning up against the sink or the countertop. And they were always handy when she needed to wipe her hands on something. They were also handy when listening to soap operas--they could wipe away tears in a jiffy. Of course, children's tears got wiped away with aprons also. And children's faces were spot-cleaned with a tip of the apron. When Grandma would see one of the kids with a smudge on his face, she would moisten the tip of the apron with her tongue and then scrub off the smudge. Aprons made good baskets. They've been known to carry a virtual harvest from the vegetable garden and into the house. A flapping apron was good for shooing the chickens or herding the cows back to the barn. They made good fans on a sweltering day over a steaming canning kettle and a warm muff on a chilly evening. But, you could bet the farm that when someone came to the door, Grandma wouldn't answer it until she took off her apron and hung it up on a hook or the door knob. Laws-a-Mercy if someone were to see her in her apron!