Day 80

I left CT in the rain but the weather quickly cleared. I have to say I have been and continue to be nervous about driving the closer I come to NYC. The amount of traffic is fierce so I try to stay to smaller roads. To add to my nerves, I spent considerable time yesterday exploring various websites trying to find Mehrhof and Tukey graves. Understand that each county back here may have as many as 75-100 cemeteries so at least locating the correct cemeter, never mind the grave location within the cemetery, is fairly crucial. I had no luck finding the hoard of Mehrhofs I was searchin for. However, Stephen H. Tukey and his wife Julia Crie Dodge are buried in Brookly. I know I don't have the guts to drive into Brookly. I have to do some more thinking about the public transportation access. This morning between driving and having an unformed plan for my research caused me to get more and more tense. Finally, I just took a breath and gave the day over to the universe asking to be taken whereever I needed to be.

Within 5 minutes, I found myself in Pearl River, former home to Aunt Marion (Grandpa Tukey's sister) and Uncle Willoughby. Lois and I had looked up their address using census records but of course I couldn't find my notes. Best I could remember was that it was somewhere on Magnolia Street. Sure enough, as Fiona the GPS lady guided my towards New Jersy, I passed Magnolia Street on the way out of town. The universe was working!!

I arrived at the Ridgewood, NJ library around 10 am. The Bergen conty Genalogical Society is located there but the area is under renovation and everything was in storage (per the website). However to my delight, a genealogist was on duty today and could retrieve items from the locked areas. She led me to the local newspaper files recently indexed. I now have a stash of Mehrhof and Tukey items from 1897-1904 including weddings, 21st birthday parties and the death of Nicolas M Jr at age 42 due to heart failure - he weighed 400 pounds - YIKES!

The reference library then located cemetery records and - THERE WERE THE MEHRHOFs. Maple Grove Cemetery in hackensack (formerly NY Cemetery). This is where I hoped to find them but could find no listings online. There are at least 2 dozen relatives and I have their locations within the cemetery. GG Armenia Mehrhof Tukey is buried there althoug her husband James Bradford is not. I suspect he must be buried in St. Petersburg, FL. I will have to check. The librarian then informed me that this afternoon was the one day in the month that the Bergen County Historical Society was open for research. She provided a map and directions (it is located in the library at a private Catholic high school and college in Lodi, NJ). I never would have located the place without her.

I arrived there at 1:30 and spent the afternoon digging in vertical files and combing through old histories. Below is a great picture of the Mehrhof house and a photo of one of the 4 sailing vessels used to transport the more than 2 million bricks produced in the Mehrhof brickyard to market.

The researcher on duty even helped me figure our where to search for the old brickyard along the Hackensack River.

Three cheers for the universe and its uncanny ability to know what we need - provided we listen. Tomorrow is grant writing then back to the library for a few hours before heading to cousin Carol Schwartz's. I'll tackle the cemetery on Friday.

Day 79

Hello from Riverside, CT. I am in the lovely 115 year old home of Susan Morris - a 2nd cousin once removed on the Atkinson side. She and husband Robert graciously opened their home to the wandering one on top of providing temporary housing for their nephew Rich, his wonderful wife Melissa and two terrific kids Richie (age 5) and Paulina (age 2). We had fun with the kids this afternoon and then a delicious salmon dinner. We shared some family stories and caught up with each others' lives.

Tomorrow everyone is off early to work and school. I am off to beautiful downtown Hackensack, NJ to look for graves and old brickyards. Somewhere in there I need to do some grant writing as well. Enjoy your Wednesday!

Days 77 & 78

Sorry I missed the blog last night. I fell asleep and didn't feel like getting out of the covers at midnight.

Fall is fast approaching. I needed a sweatshirt for my walk this morning. The past two days have been mostly grant work oriented. I also did some shopping yesterday to augment my wardrobe. The changes in eating and exercise are paying off. Tonight I have been exploring the various ancestry lines that converge in New Jersey - Tukeys, Davenports, Suttons. Wednesday night I have to check on the Atkinson side and see who else started their American adventure in NJ. I will spend several days working in Bergen and Somerset counties and then further south.

Tomorrow I leave for Riverside, CT and an overnight visit with a 2nd cousin once removed on the Atkinson side. Should be fun to meet new relatives.

Day 76

The weather today was glorious. A strong breeze, no humidity, and bright sunshine. I spent the morning working on grants but by 12:30 I was OUTSIDE! I went to Stonington and found a nature preserve where I could walk on the beach, sit on rocks beside the ocean, and walk through the beach roses. A wonderful way to spend the afternoon. (I tried to upload a photo for you but no luck tonight.)


Genealogy was limited. The library closed early so I didn't get any research time but I couldn't bear to be inside anyway. The rest of the day was spent just enjoying myself. A bit of guilt in the name of ancestors - but not much. :-)

Day 75

The sky is leaking here in CT, as it has been most of the day. I am sure it is worse in NC. I hope Karl, Anne, Carl, Cathy and Rick are all surviving the wet and the wind from Earl.

This morning I decided to tour the seaport village of Mystic Seaport. I learned lots about ship building, being a cooper, and I am becoming knowlegable on the various types of houses and ships that made up our ancestors' lives between 1650 and 1900. One of the most interesting exhibit was the Whaler the Charles Morgan. It is in dry dock for 3 years being overhauled and refurbished. It is impressive to see the huge wooden ship out of water, walk through the area where they are making the masts and spars, and actually get a chance to go aboard and explore the Morgan while they work on her.

After leaving this outdoor exhibit, the rest of the day was spent doing errands, some window shopping and a movie. I just didn't want to go back to the hotel room. It was a relaxing day. Tomorrow I have to settle in and start some grant writing and do some setup for my research in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Hopefully, the rain will let up so I can do some more exploring.

Day 74

No sign of the hurricane but I have gas in the car and ice in the cooler. Somehow I doubt that I will need either to escape the wild waves. The air is full of humidity but the breezes are wonderful.

I left Stonington this morning at 7:30 and covered 3 states by 9:30. In the west you could only accomplish this at the 4-corners area. It took 15 minutes to get from CT to RI. Then 20 miles across RI, and then wander 20 miles through Massachusetts as I make my way down the peninsula to Little Compton, and finally back into RI. I went all the way down to the coast just to see the waves crashing and smell the open water. Then back to Little Compton (about 7 miles inland) to see the cemetery at the Congregational church.

Elisabeth Alden Pabodie's grave is easy to identify. The community erected an obelisk in 1882 and placed her small gravestone in one facet to protect and preserve it. Elisabeth died in 1717 at age 94. She did her best to populate this part of New England leaving hundreds of grandchildren and great grandchildren. Next to her was William Sr. who died in 1707 at age 88. Other gravestones included William Pabodie Jr who died in 1744 age 80. Also his first wife Judith Tilden and 2nd wife Elisabeth.

I then made my way back up the peninsula past Swansea and into Providence (Fiona goes into spasms in Providence - good thing I knew the route). I wanted to hit the beaches for a bit so made my way down another peninsula (going through CT, RI and MA again) to Misquamicut. I found an area where you could park for free, walk on the beach and enjoy the waves. Just perfect. I continue to be amazed that our ancestors a) came from England armed with faith and not a lot else and b) the next generation (Elisabeth Alden P was the first white female born in NE) got back in a boat and explored the coastline looking for new land. This was a much easier process by boat than land given the rugged coastline, estuaries, marshes and rivers, but how daunting to try and choose an optimal spot.

I got back in the car heading for more grave sites in N. Stonington, CT. These sites have caused me headaches. I was looking for the Crary-Peabody cemetery and the Great Plain cemetery. The directions say is 2.5 miles NE of the town center and .5 miles NW of the town center. I found some directions from 30 years ago but the roads are not labeled the same. To complicate things, N. Stonington had a huge flood a few months ago, washing out the bridge on Main Street, effectively cutting off my access to some of the roads in the obscure directions. After wandering around, searching one cemetery that wasn't the right one, I headed for the Town Clerk's office. Lo and behold, she was in today and I could reach her office located next to the abyss left by surging flood water. I got a map and sort of reasonable directions. Fiona and I finally found Crary-Peabody. It sits in a field on a working farm. All the fields are edged with rock walls and they continue over rolling hills for miles. I got permission from the owners to walk through their lanes to get to the graves. They graves are not well tended. I am grateful the cemetery is fenced off, there is a mowed path around the edge, and that the local historical society has recorded the inscriptions.

Sure enough there are tons of Peabodys. I found William Peabody III who died in 1778 (age 77), Thomas Peabody (age 87) and his wife Ruth (age 78). I also found Mary, wife of William Pabody. She died in 1756 at age 86, one of the oldest stones in the cemetery. I haven't connected her but she might be William Jr's 3rd wife Mary Morgan Starr and may have been living with William III and his wife Jerusha Starr (Mary's daughter) after William Jr. died. One of the most interesting graves in this cemetery is for Sirley, a William Peabody's horse who died in 1875 at age 30. I have included this photo for my mom.

I then followed the map to Wynassup Lake. According to probate records for Robert Coats Jr (1658-1724), his land grant included this lake and the surrounding countryside - 100s of acres. It is gorgeous and was inherited by William Coates (7 GG). Too bad not inherited by one of us!

Finally, as the sun was beginning to set, I made my way to Great Plain Cemetery. It is on an obscure gravel road across from a strip mall. You follow the road into and through the woods until you come to a sunny field on a hill. Many stones in this cemetery are in very poor shape. I found Hannah Bill Coates (d 1769-age 77) (notice that our early ancestors had an e in the name but had dropped it by about 1800). Her husband William Coates Sr's grave was not there but it easily could have crumbled given the state of many of the surrounding stones.

I was glad to get back to my hotel - a long day but very worthwhile. Lots of pictures that take up too much space to upload but you have seen enough gravestones through this blog that I won't worry that you are deprived. One last note - happy 12th birthday to my granddaughter Clancy and happy 80th birthday to uncle Carl.

Day 73

Today was a day to get an overview of the CT coast, Mystic and Stonington. I headed for the lovely waterfront, enjoying the blue sky and water. I toured the Stonington Lighthouse including the climb to the top of the tower (see photo for a non-smoggy look towards NY).






I then spent a few hours at the Stonington Historical Library. Nothing much new in the Coats or Peabody files, and much to my frustration, not too many listings for family members in local cemeteries. Where did they go? Also frustrating was the split records between Stonington and North Stonington. I think I may have to spend a day in Hartford searching vital records and probates. One piece of information did surface. John Coats Sr. (father of the John Coats in upstate New York) was born in Lebanon, CT and has another Peabody lurking in his past). Oh boy. We already have Peabodys marrying Peabodys before they get to the Coatses. Now they are marrying in again.

After a long conference call with clients, I went back to genealogy. Becauase the Peabody lines are so convoluted, I worked backward from nationally vetted genealogy on Mayflower descendants. And so the next chapter in "As the Stomach Turns" begins. Let's see if I can convey this mess simply.
Generation 1: John Alden and Priscilla Mullins (yes, of Mayflower fame) marry and
have 10 children.
Generation 2: Their eldest child, Elizabeth, married William Pabodie (Peabody). He was
born in England about 1620. She was born in Plymouth, MA in 1724/25.
Generation 3: Elizabeth (1) and William (1) give birth to William Jr. in 1664. William Jr.
married Judith Tildon in 1693. After Judith died, he married Elizabeth
Throope and then Mary Morgan Starr (remember that name).
Generation 4:
a. William Jr. and Judith begat William III. William III married Jerusha
Starr - his step sister by Mary Morgan Starr.
b. William Jr. and Judith also begat Elizabeth Peabody II. She married
Edward Gray.

Generation 5a: William III and Jerusha had Thomas (b. 1727) who married Ruth Babcock
(they actually have graves in N. Stonington!). They had 13 children.
5b. Elizabeth II and Edward Gray have Anstrace Gray.

Generation 6aa. Thomas and Ruth have William (I know) Peabody. Let's designate him
William IV.
6ab. Thomas and Ruth also give birth to Lucy Peabody.
6ba. Anstrace Gray married John Coats, Sr. and begat John Coats, Jr.

Generation 7aa. William IV married Rebecca Brown and begat William Peabody V.
7ab and 7ba. Lucy Peabody married John Coats Jr and has Ezra Peabody
Coats.

Generation 8aa. William Peabody V married Roxanna Burdick and they had Roxanna
Peabody.

Generation 9. Ezra Peabody Coats married Roxanna Peabody to produce George
Washington Coats who we all remember from 10 weeks ago in Michigan.

Generation 10. Emma Jane Coats married Eugene Davenport.

Generation 11. Margaret Davenport married Harold B. Tukey.

Generation 12. Loren, Lois and Ron Tukey

Generation 13. Me and all the cousins

Generation 14. Our children

Generation 15: Our grandchildren - for those of us who have gotten that far.

After all that - and let me tell you it took a lot of charts and paper to make sure I had it straight - I am headed for Rhode Island tomorrow. It seems all the Peabodys are buried in Little Compton. I know it is on the other side of the next state but since it's only an hour drive from here, I might as well risk the potential hurricane and get a few more shots for the family album. Stay tuned.