The first post on December 8, 2016 was entitled: This Old House: Secrets in the Attic. Since then, the blog has had 32,309 views from 18,163 visitors from more than 60 countries.
Family stories truly are universal!
Tag: genealogy
Family Photograph Circa 1940s
Lubec, Maine. Grammy (Elizabeth Keegan Rier), three of her daughters, and two sisters.
Pictured above L to R: Patricia Rier, Marion Rier, Grammy, Carollee Rier Dinsmore, Mary Keegan Foley, Teresa Keegan.
Related posts:
My Updated Ancestry DNA Results Arrived!
According to the Ancestry DNA website, my ethnicity estimate is based on the data that Ancestry collects and the methods used to compare my results to that data. Because Ancestry DNA is always collecting more data and their methods are constantly improving, my estimate may change over time. Read more here.
My ethnicity profile changed. The one surprise in the original results, received just eight months ago, was 6% Iberian Peninsula. That disappeared in the updated version. I can genuinely say that nothing is a surprise in my new results and reflects what I know from my genealogy research. My maternal ancestors (Means, Getchell, Berry, and Johnson families) descended from the Scots-Irish and the English. My Scottish ancestors, the Clan Menzies, were originally from Mesnieres in Normandy. My mother’s blond hair and blue eyes (and two of my sons) hinted at Swedish descent, although the percentage dropped from 35% Scandinavian to 10% Swedish. Vikings raided and settled in Scotland and Ireland in the 9th century so that makes sense. My paternal ancestors, the Rier and Keegan families, originated in Germany and Ireland, respectively.
I knew ancestors from both sides of my family immigrated to America in the early 1700s to late 1800s and settled in Downeast Maine (Machias, Machiasport, Trescott and Lubec).
It’s nice to see that my DNA results match the family tree I have been researching!
This is my original DNA results for comparison.
1913. The Means Family
This post has been updated with a full scanned copy of the Means Family notebook found here: 1913.Means
When I was in sixth grade, Mrs. Luce gave the class an assignment: write a story about our ancestors. When I got home that day, I told Mom about my homework project. I hoped to write about my grandparents and great grandparents. She retrieved a small brown notebook from a closet draw entitled 1913. Means Family. Compliments of John H. Means Boston to William G Means. William Means was my great grandfather. I knew the book existed for no one could grow up in my home and not hear stories about my mother’s ancestors but I had never read it, nor glanced at the pages.
I opened the little book and read the first page:
Our Ancestors
Our great-great-great Grandfather and family.
Robert Means born 1689 married Jeane Armstrong, daughter…
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5 Hidden Clues in the US Census — Amy Johnson Crow
The US census forms the basis of much of our family history research. It is often among the first things we search for when trying to answer a genealogical question. However, there are clues that are often missed. Let’s take a look at 5 hidden clues in the US census. […]The post 5 Hidden Clues…
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My Ancestry DNA Results Arrived Yesterday!
I am a DNA novice so I’m busy exploring what it all means: migration patterns of my ancestors from 1700 through 1925, and my DNA matches with 652 fourth cousins or closer. As yet, I have not figured out the meaning of 150 ethnicity regions and the numbers associated with them in my profile.
I am particularly fascinated by the 6% Iberian DNA. There is much to learn!
Bringing Your Ancestors to Life: The History of Irish Immigration into Maine
As I began researching and writing about my Keegan ancestors, I sought more information about Irish immigration into Washington County. They Change Their Sky: The Irish in Maine, edited by Michael C. Connolly, was recommended in a post comment. Recently, I found the book at Lubec Memorial Library among their fine collection of books on Maine history. It is a delightful book packed with well-researched information about the Irish immigration into Maine. The foreword was written by Senator George Mitchell. An entire chapter is devoted to Washington County entitled: “Ireland Along the Passamaquoddy: Rathlin Islanders in Washington County, Maine.” A portion of the chapter focuses on Trescott, West Lubec, Pembroke and Perry. My ancestors immigrated to Trescott in 1836.
I wondered how they decided to come there, how they lived out their lives. After I read the book, I wrote a summary about the families of my GG and great grandfathers, weaving the genealogy with details from the book, working my way through time up to my grandmother Elizabeth Keegan Rier. Next, I am starting on a bit of historical fiction that begins when Grammy Rier was a little girl, living on a farm in Trescott.
I hope to bring my ancestors to life!
MY GREAT GREAT GRANDFATHER JAMES KEEGAN SR.
In 1836, James Keegan arrived in the New World from Dublin, Ireland, with his young bride, Elizabeth Moran. Their port of entry is unknown, but many Irish immigrants who settled in Washington County, Maine came into Canadian Maritime ports because fares for passage were half the price into America. James may have worked in Canada for a time as did many other Irish immigrants to save money to purchase land and build a homestead. The couple settled in Trescott among other early Irish pioneers who made permanent homes there before the Great Famine in Ireland began in 1845.
Trescott, West Lubec, Pembroke and Perry attracted Irish families where farming, fishing, shipbuilding, and cutting timber provided opportunities for newcomers, as did the Pembroke Iron Works, a thriving foundry. James followed other Irish farmers who settled primarily in Trescott and West Lubec. They found cheap land, plentiful fuel, and Cobscook Bay offered a means of transport. As early as 1829, three pioneers from Rathlin Island off the Northeast coast of Ireland, Neil Black, Dundan Bradley and Lauglin Black, acquired land along Cobscook Bay. They joined other Irish families there, many from Ulster, fishing the Cobscook coves and farming the land between Trescott and Lubec.
There was a strong sense of community and shared traditions in these small towns and villages in eastern Maine. Often whole families from young children to grandparents crossed the Atlantic together, built homes and worked the land. A pathfinder or pioneering family established a base, sent letters and money for passage to friends and kin in chain migration. In 1844, the year James appeared at the Supreme Judicial Court in Machias to petition for naturalization, he was one of 126 immigrants from Ireland and England. Most of those who specified a port of entry traveled via Saint John or Saint Andrews, New Brunswick or Halifax, Nova Scotia.
This growing community drew the attention of the Catholic Church, already having established a presence in eastern Maine. As early as the 1830s and 1840s, circuit riders from Eastport and missionary priests from Pleasant Point ministered to the Irish flock. In 1852, the Saint Mary’s Catholic Church was built beside a forest of pines in Trescott.
James built his home beside the Saunders Meadow Stream not far from the South Branch of the Cobscook River, west of the Bay. The Murray and Moran families built homes on that stream, close enough to Saint Mary’s Catholic Church to hear the bell ring on Sundays. The family story is that James’ home was built of wood and stone into the side of a hillock. Homes the Irish built were not of thatch and stone as in the home country. Instead they took on the character of their Yankee neighbors as timber was plentiful. The Irish kept their Catholic identity but quickly adapted to their new environment in terms of building styles, material culture, and farming. Irish farmers like James learned new methods and how to use new implements, including using oxen as draught animals, a technique unknown in Ireland. Farms grew a variety of crops from locally obtained seeds: barley, peas, pumpkins, carrots, potatoes, parsnips, garlic, onions, radishes, turnips, cabbages, lettuce, parsley and melons. Corn, beans and squash came from the Passamaquoddy. Cattle provided milk and butter. Apples from seedlings brought from Europe were harvested and cider made in the Fall. Wild blueberry and cranberry abounded. As in the home country, sheep were raised for wool to make clothing.
In 1838, James and Elizabeth’s first child, William, was born. A daughter, Mary, arrived two years later followed by six more children in the coming years: Anne, John, Eliza, James Jr., Catherine and Thomas. James Sr. farmed all his life and was active within the community, serving as the Superintendent of the School Committee for 32 years. He died in 1879 at the age of 67; his obituary lauded his devotion to his family, his Church and his dedication to education.
MY GREAT GRANDFATHER JAMES KEEGAN JR.
James Keegan Jr. was the 7th child of James and Elizabeth Keegan, born in 1847. He worked on his father’s farm growing up and well into adulthood, as did his younger brother Thomas. One year after James Sr. died, the Keegan homestead was occupied by his widow Elizabeth, age 74, James Jr., age 32, Thomas, age 29, and his wife Katherine (Kate), age 28. James Jr. likely delayed marriage after his father’s death to assist in caring for his mother and working the farm. He married Margaret “Maggie” Murray in 1886, who lived close by, the daughter of Irish immigrants via Saint John, New Brunswick. James and Maggie had seven children between 1887 and 1895: Winnifred, Tresa (Teresa), James, Mary, Elizabeth (Lizzie), Katherine (Kathe), and Margaret (Maggie). Sadly, James’ wife Maggie succumbed to a bout of pneumonia and died in 1896 at the age of 38 leaving James to care for their children, including their infant daughter. Three years later, James Jr.’s mother, Elizabeth, died at the age of 80. By 1898, Thomas and his wife moved to Lubec with their youngest children Fred, age 14, and John, age 12. where they raised their five children. He partnered with James McCurdy to open the Union Sardine Company while James Jr. stayed at the Trescott homestead with his children.
Life must have been tough for a man raising seven children alone, albeit with the help of his family and neighbors. My grandmother was his 5th child, Elizabeth. I was told that Grammy had to quit school after third grade to work in the sardine camps in Lubec. By 1910, she and her eldest sister Winnifred worked as servants in households in Lubec. The next year, at age 19, my grandmother married Frank Rier, a mechanic from Lubec, in Leominster, MA where her sister Mary lived.
Related posts:
Searching for Grammy Rier’s Parents and Siblings.
My Great Great Paternal Grandfather, James Keegan.
Visiting the Gravesites of My Great and Great Great Grandfathers. James Keegan Sr. and Jr. families.
I am a proud member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).
My mother, Louise (Johnson) Rier, was a member. I joined in 2012. Last year, my daughter, Monica Snowdeal Stone, became a member. It’s important to pass down our history for generations to come. Our qualifying ancestor to join the DAR was Joseph Getchell Jr.
The DAR is a women’s service organization dedicated to promoting historic preservation, education, patriotism and honoring the patriots of the Revolutionary War. DAR members come from a variety of backgrounds and interests, but all share a common bond of having an ancestor who helped contribute to securing the independence of the United States of America. Any woman 18 years or older, regardless of race, religion or ethnic background, who can prove lineal descent from a patriot of the American Revolution is eligible to join.
The Hannah Weston Chapter of the DAR is located in Machias, Maine. Established in a rural Downeast community, this chapter has over 90 members, second in size only to the chapter in the largest city of the state, Portland. Hannah Watts Weston was a remarkable 17-year old heroine of the first battle of the American Revolution who walked through the woods for 16 miles carrying 40 pounds of household pewter to be melted down for ammunition.
Anyone who grew up in Machias knows that their home town was the site of the first naval battle of the American Revolution that took place June 11 and 12th, 1775.
Joseph Getchell Sr. and his wife immigrated to the British colony of Massachusetts from Hull, England and settled in Scarborough in 1749 (then a part of MA, later the state of Maine). They had three children: Benjamin, Mary, and Joseph Jr, born in April 1757. Joseph Sr. and his family came to Machias in 1769 or 70. In 1776, Joseph Getchell Jr. married Sally Berry. They had eleven children: Westbrook, Abagail, Betsey, John, Marshall, Benjamin, Mary, Simeon, Jane, G. Washington, and George Stillman.
Joseph Jr.’s son John had two children: Marshfield and Thomas. Marshfield married Martha Jane Holmes. They had seven children, their youngest was my great grandmother Nellie Getchell Means.
Joseph Getchell Jr. fought the British in the rebellion for independence of the American colonies to prevent the British from taking their primary resources: timber for ships and their hard-earned money, taxation without representation. Once British demands were made, the residents of Downeast Maine not only refused to comply by providing timber or paying their taxes, they erected a “liberty pole” in the town square. And then, they set out to seize British ships that entered their harbor.
A group of townsmen met to decide on their plan of action. Once agreed upon at the Rubicon, the brook they jumped across to seal their pact, these men collectively captured the British ship Margaretta and hid her upriver. Among the first men who jumped on board the Margaretta in the assault was my ancestor, 18 year old Joseph Getchell Jr. The captured British ship captain died. His blood remains in the Burnham Tavern where they took him after their assault. The Burnham Tavern is now a museum under the care of the Daughters of the American Revolution, a reminder to future generations never to yield to tyranny.
The Burnham Tavern, beautifully preserved, as it is today.
This summer, the Tavern will be open from 10:00 AM until 3:00 PM, Monday through Friday, beginning on Tuesday, July 5th and continuing through Friday, September 2nd. In addition, it may be possible to arrange visits at other times if a docent is available. Please call 207-733-4577 or e-mail <info@burnhamtavern.com> for further information.
The Foster Rubicon Plaque.
Reference: History of Machias, Maine. George W. Drisko. 1904.
Related posts:
Hannah Weston Chapter DAR. Burnham Tavern Open Every Saturday During Summer.
Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Partnership Agreement With the US National Archives.
A Rier Family in Robbinston, Maine. 1850 Census.
My great great grandparents, Ingraham and Mary Rier, immigrated to Lubec, Maine from Nova Scotia in 1870. To trace the Rier family back in time, I searched Nova Scotia records. By accident, while searching for information on the Rier family in Lubec, I found a Rier family in the Robbinston 1850 census. Head of household: Stephen H. Rier. Occupation: Carpenter. Age: 43? Wife: Mercy. Age: 48. There are three laborers in the household: Freeman, age 27; Amos, age 24; John H., age 18. Children: Mary, age 16; Geo. E., age 14; Lucy A., age 11; Stephen, age 9; Elizabeth, age 6.
The transcribed census listed the place of birth for each family member as NY. I was confused as I was unaware of any Riers in NY but perhaps it is an extended family that immigrated to the US before my ancestors. Then, I combed the original census document. The place of birth for family members sure looks like N.S – Nova Scotia – not NY. I looked up 19th century cursive writing. Again, it looks like N.S., not N.Y to me.
What do you think? Is anyone out there an expert in handwriting of this period? A closeup of the census and an example of 19th century handwriting are shown below. I notice that the Y goes below the line.
I contemplated the enormity of a mistake in census transcription. It could be repeated hundreds, if not thousands, of times in genealogy records by those of us striving to document our families. Is this a mistake in transcription?
Well, when I gain access to Nova Scotia records, I will keep my eye out for this family and see if they are related to Ingraham and Mary Rier. It is just another genealogy mystery waiting to be solved!
Related posts:
Searching for Grammy Rier’s Parents and Siblings.
My Paternal Grandfather Frank Rier and the Rier Brothers from Germany.
My Great Great Paternal Grandfather, James Keegan.
My Paternal Great Great Grandparents. Ingraham and Mary Rier. 1880 Census.
Voices of Ancestors 