Hi Libby,      I have been wanting to meet someone from your line. My William Benjamin was Zachary Taylor Sisson Senior's brother. Larry L. Sisson ----- Original Message ---- From: Libby Nash <lantulsa@cox.net> To: David A Sisson <dsisson2@rochester.rr.com>; Sisson List <SISSON-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, July 5, 2008 8:42:43 PM Subject: Re: [SISSON] Notes from the 2008 Gathering Thanks, David!  Wish my sisters (4 of them), father  and I could have joined you - attended a nephew's wedding in San Diego during the same weekend. My father is Thomas Sylvester Sisson and our line is as follows: 1) Richard; 2) George; 3) Thomas; 4) Giles; 5) John; 6) Benjamin; 7) John Crandall; 8) Zachary Taylor; 9) John Joseph; 10) Minor Scott; 11) Thomas Sylvester; 12) ME - Elizabeth (Libby) Ann (Sisson) Nash. We will be able to make the Denver trip in two years - my son and his family live in Denver - what a treat!  What a great Sisson Gathering you had - I really appreciate your dedication, and that of many others, that make these gatherings possible. Blessings to all! Libby Sisson Nash ----- Original Message ----- From: "David A Sisson" <dsisson2@rochester.rr.com> To: "Sisson List" <SISSON-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2008 4:47 PM Subject: [SISSON] Notes from the 2008 Gathering > 2008 Sisson Gathering > Notes taken by David Arne Sisson > > This is our 8^th Gathering, held this time in Springfield, Illinois. We > are a Sisson Gathering, not a reunion. We report on serious research, > and have fun too. We were reminded of the Sisson website at > _http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~dasisson/_ > > Presentations: > > Joan Sisson: > > Joan's father recorded the story of his life on audio cassette tapes. > Joan transcribed them, and Dave suggested that she turn it into a book. > It became "A Life in Each Decade of the 20^th Century." The book is > available from Xlibris http://www2.xlibris.com/. They print books on > demand. Many of us have memories or research that should be made > available to others, and Xlibris's service is an economical way. Others > recording their family histories can put those the written notes in a > binder as a computer file on a CD. They don't have to go to the expense > of publishing a book. > > Joan and Dave will donate a copy of their book "Descendants of Richard > and Mary Sisson" to a library of your choice if you will pay $4 for > postage. Joan added that she can send both the original "big book" of > the of New England, and the supplemental update of the book for $5 > postage. The book/s will be sent by media mail. > > Wayne Sisson: > > Wayne told of a Sisson man he met. He had come to the USA from Russia. > After the 2006 Gathering Wayne stopped in Ithaca, NY, to visit a third > cousin once removed, Robert Wehe, a descendant of Wilson Crandall Sisson. > > Malcolm Sissons: > > Malcolm is from Alberta, Canada. He has researched the question: Does > the Sisson or Sissons surname have a French origin? He concluded that a > French connection is as much myth as fact. > > He found several names and places that seemed to point to a French > origin: the Suessiones (a Celtic tribe), a man named Guy de Soissons in > Coventry, England; and the Comtes de Soissons, France. He related some > of the history of French Huguenots (Protestants) in England. > > Malcolm told of his descent from _two_ Sissons ancestors, his > grandparents, Herb and Lissa. Each was born a Sissons. (Note the final > "S"). Herb's grandfather William came from Horncastle, England, and > Lissa's grandfather Thomas came from Sutton-cum-Lound, England. Malcolm > thinks William's father might have come from Sutton-cum-Lound also. > > These clues from Malcolm's ancestry may be clues to the origins of the > English ancestors of Richard or Robert or Thomas Sisson, immigrants to > 17th-century Rhode Island and Virginia. Malcolm discussed the French > Huguenot families with variations on the Sisson name, Soissons among > others, but he has come to the conclusion that the name is probably an > English one, not a French. > > > > Carol Sisson Regehr: > > Carol showed a map with the English counties of Cumberland, > Westmoreland, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, the counties > with the highest 19th-century concentrations of Sisson/s families. Then > showing a map of North America, Carol indicated how families with > Sisson-variation names migrated from New England and Virginia to the > Midwest and South and eventually dispersed across the USA and > Canada.                                                        She > pointed out that in modern phone books of the USA, Canada, and Britain, > the variations of the name have different proportions. In the USA, the > name is spelled Sisson by 98% and Sissons by 2%. In Canada, however, 65% > spell it Sisson and 35% spell it Sissons. In the UK, it is a 50/50 > distribution! We wonder whether this spelling is a clue to our origins. > > Susan Ashley Blake: > > Carol Sisson Regehr introduced Susan as a second cousin once removed of > David Arne Sisson. His grandfather and her great grandfather were > brothers. > > Susan related how David and Carol wrote her about 18 months ago, about > the possibility that Robert Sisson of Virginia came from Horncastle, > Lincolnshire, and Richard Sisson of Rhode Island came from > Sutton-cum-Lound, Nottinghamshire. Horncastle and Sutton-cum-Lound are > about 50 miles apart (according to MapQuest for the United Kingdom at > http://www.mapquest.co.uk/. Use postal codes DN22 8PP for Retford, near > Sutton-cum-Lound which doesn't seem to have a code, and LN9 5AD for > Horncastle).** > > Susan did some research in parish registers. They were kept by the > state-established Church of England, beginning in 1538, recording > baptisms, marriages, and burials. There was a one-shilling charge to > have names entered in registers, so many names were never recorded, and > Quakers boycotted the registers. (But Quaker beliefs and practices did > not become common until after both Richard and Robert had come to > America.) > > Susan has found many Sisson entries in the registers of both Horncastle > and Sutton-cum-Lound, but none that definitively establishes either > Richard's or Robert's English connections. > > There are 40 villages within five miles of Sutton-cum-Lound, and their > parish records should all be searched. Very few are available online. > Early parish registers are in 16^th -century script which is very > difficult to read. In the early years, many parish register were > transcribed for their bishops, and the Mormon indexes are based on those > transcripts. They can be seen online at http://tinyurl.com/5dwv89. (This > address is easier to reach than by clicking through the > http://FamilySearch.org <http://familysearch.org/> site.) > > Susan noted that the highest concentration of religious dissenters > occurred in the Sisson areas of eastern England, and especially in "the > heartland of Mayflower origins." Despite modern belief, the Pilgrims > were mostly willing to conform to church and king. > > Virginia Company emigrants/immigrants are listed with their Virginia > home places. They needed to be attending a Church of England parish, to > recognize the supremacy of the king, and owe no taxes. > > Tammie Sisson Higginbotham: > >    May Sisson represented Bath, Illinois, in an historical pageant in > Bath, England, in 1909. Tammie displayed many pictures and documents of > the event. > > > Carol Sisson Regehr: > > There is a Sisson connection with Abraham Lincoln. Pages 59-62 of the > book "Lincoln's Melancholy" by Joshua Wolf Shenk (Houghton Mifflin, > 2005), relates how Dr. Daniel Drake, founder of a medical journal, was > himself subject to spells of "Melancholy." Dr Drake's wife, Harriet > Sisson (1787-1825), a 4^th generation descendant of Richard and Mary, > fell into a "mental depression" when her sister Caroline burned to death > in 1828. Mental depression was then considered a "medical problem," but > the various natural remedies Dr. Drake tried for his wife's condition > did not work. Later, in the 1840s, Abraham Lincoln, then an Illinois > state senator from Springfield, wrote Dr. Drake about his own history of > depression. Carol wonders whether they ever met, or if they only > corresponded. The letters between them have been lost. > > Albert Sisson: > > Albert spoke of his Civil War connection, Francis M. "Frank" Sisson > (1842-1921) (descended from Richard, through George, Thomas, John, and > Alanson, to Frank). When Lincoln called for 300,000 troops for three > years' service in the Civil War (comparable today to three million > troops for Iraq) the draft affected nearly every family, including > Frank's. When Lincoln appointed General Grant as head all Union land > forces, Grant's "hammer" was the Second Corps of the Army of the > Potomac, Uncle Frank's Corps. > > Frank served from 1862 to 1865, spent five months in hospital from April > to September 1863, and was wounded at Reams Station in August 1864. He > saw action from Washington to Richmond and a little south by rail. > Albert related much of what Frank would have seen and heard, and > touched, tasted, and smelled, most of it horrifying. > > Frank was promoted corporal just before his discharge and had a > corporal's pension after he returned home in July 1865. He married, had > two children, and adopted one. He owned a dry goods store in Wells > Bridge, New York; was postmaster there for two years; taught Sunday > School in the Baptist Church; sold the store to his son and moved to > Unadilla, NY; where he had a business with Fred Joyce. Frank helped > build the Sisson & Bundy Block in Unadilla, and had a store there. He > died in 1921 and was buried in the Sand Hill Cemetery, Unadilla > > > > Carol Sisson Regehr: > > An Update on DNA Project > > Carol reminded us that the Y-chromosome (usually) travels with the > surname. When the Sisson DNA Project was begun, we hoped it would help > us find out if all Sisson/s families are related and whether we could > use it to find our ancestry and cousins in England. By 2004 it was clear > that the Richard, Robert, and Thomas lineages are unrelated. The Thomas > line matches a man from Penrith, England. Carol wonders if the Penrith > man can trace his ancestry back to a common ancestor with Thomas? > > As things stand now, we know that six Thomas descendants know their > lines back to the immigrant, and 35 participants descend from Richard > (or one of Richard's ancestors). > > In 2008 Malcolm Sissons was found to match the Robert group of Virginia. > Malcolm knows his ancestry back to the Sissons immigrant, but the > immigrant isn't Robert. Malcolm descends from an ancestor who was also > an ancestor of Robert. Malcolm also descends in a female line from the > Richard group, or rather from an ancestor of both Malcolm and Richard. > > Carol has drafted an article for /New England Ancestors /(a publication > of the New England Historic Genealogical Society) about the Sisson DNA > Project, partly to amaze readers with Malcolm's descent from two Sisson > lines! > > > > Tom Sisson, on Lieutenant Paul Sisson: > > Paul was B29 co-pilot in the Second World War. Carol Regehr is Paul's > niece. Paul's mission was to help fire-bomb the main islands of Japan, > especially within a ten-mile radius of Tokyo. His plane was shot down on > Paul's thirty-fifth mission. He and the crew baled out. Their Japanese > captors charged them with high crimes. A day after the official > surrender of Japan, Paul and the crew were executed and thrown in a mass > grave. Paul's remains were discovered by an American follow-up crew and > returned and reburied at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. He was awarded the > Distinguished Flying Cross, but he actually received only two lesser > medals. Carol wrote Congressman Jim Ryan who arranged for the DFC to be > awarded posthumously. > > > > All who have served in the military were asked to stand as a reminder of > what many Sisson men and women have given to our county. > > > > Gary Ward: > > Gary's great-great grandfather was Otis Sisson, of Lockport, Illinois. > He was buried in a family cemetery which fell into disrepair and was > prey to grave robbers. The cemetery was half a mile off the road, but in > 1998 a road was proposed which would cut the top off the cemetery hill. > The family was asked to help with the removal of the burials. The work > demanded blasting and use of a back hoe, but when a stain in the earth > came in sight, such extreme measures stopped and the remains were > exhumed. Otis' remains were laid out on a table in an old restaurant > nearby. Gary saw buttons, Otis' broken wrist and false teeth, and coffin > handles and shards of wood. > > > The 2010 Gathering: > > All former Gatherings have been in the East or Midwest, but except for a > Gathering in Kansas City, Missouri, not west of the Mississippi. A > consensus was reached for a western meeting in 2010. We heard of a > Sisson Reunion held in the same years as our Gathering, in Alberta, > Canada, and remembered another in Unadilla, NY. > > We decided to meet in 2010 in Denver. Two couples volunteered to help > coordinate the gathering there, and their planning has already begun. > > Some thought was also given to a 2012 Gathering in London! We could > organize a tour, rather than going separately, or alternatively, we > could send a subgroup from the 2010 Gathering, and tour English > genealogical sites in 2011. More discussion of this possibility will > take place at the 2010 Gathering. > > > David Martin presented a certificate of appreciation and a hanging > basket of flowers to this year's hosts, Donna and Marcus "Marc" Sisson. > Donna expressed her high appreciation of many members of her family who > helped. > > Jane Frazier of the Havana (Illinois) Public Library, spoke after dinner > on "Sisson Connections in Springfield, Illinois." She is a native of > nearby Havana, Illinois, and  descends from a Revolutionary War soldier. > She likes to look for ancestors, hers or others'. Marc Sisson's ancestor > Marcus Lafayette Sisson came to Illinois in the middle of the 18^th > century. The family was easy to research, making use of cemetery and > census records and atlases. Jane presented many records relating to > Marc's ancestry: census records; property, marriage, birth, military, > mortician, and probate records, obituaries and biographies from county > histories. Jane advised: Don't stay wedded to name spellings and always > question census records. > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > SISSON-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SISSON-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message