Ancestor Approved Award

I was so pleased and honored when I discovered I had been awarded the Ancestor Approval Award by Hummer at Branching Out Through the Years.  Just the fact others read my blog makes my day, but to also receive an award, my first ever, has put a huge smile on my face. Thank you.

As a recipient of this award, I am to list 10 things I have learned about my ancestors that have surprised, humbled or enlightened me and then pass the award on to 10 other genealogy bloggers who I feel are doing their ancestors proud.  So here is my list of 10 things and my list of 10 other bloggers.

1.  I was surprised when I found a newspaper article about Eugene Nettles Arnspiger, my husband's grandfather, relating his involvement in the accidental discharge of a shotgun, resulting in the wounding of a neighbor.  Eugene was 17 years old at the time; 1902.

2.  I was humbled when I discovered Catherine Shinkle Bolender, my 3rd gt gdmother gave birth to 10 children, one born about every two years, all of whom lived to adulthood and all the while settling the frontier of Ohio between 1811-1835.

3.  I was enlightened  and saddened after reading the transcription of a journal keep by a fellow passenger of Jorg Henrich Ernstberger, my husband's 5th gt grandfather.  The ship was the Charming Nancy, arriving in Philadelphia 8 Oct 1737. There were so many deaths, mostly children.

4.  I was surprised when I learned my father had two other wives that I knew nothing about.  That made a total of four.

5.  I was enlightened and humbled when I learned about Daniel Belden, my 8th gt gdfather: the murder of several members of his family, his capture and kidnapping, and the capture and kidnapping of several of his children by Indians, all in 1690 during King Phillips War in Hatfield, Connecticut.

6.  I was surprised when I learned Henry Stephen Archer Sr, my 2nd gtgdfather, was a baptist minister but not a slaveowner in Mississippi.

7.  I was enlightened  when I found Joshua Atwood Tilton, my 2nd gtgdfather in the 1850 census in Boston, Massachusetts.  He was indexed as "Silton".

8.  I was humbled when I read the account given by my 6th gtgdmother, Ruth Hoyt Peck, to the court in Danbury, Ct. in 1777, documenting the trials and loss she and her family endured in the fight for independence during the Revolutionary War.

9.  I was surprised when I watched the first episode of WDYTYA and discovered one, I was related to Sarah Jessica Parker, and two, my 8th gtgdmother, Esther Dutch Elwell was accused of witchcraft.

10.  I was surprised when I discovered both Stephen Bolender, my 4th gtgdfather, and Abraham Houser Sr, a contemporary, neighbor and relation by marriage of Paul Ernspiger, my husband's 4th gtgdfather were both ministers in the first German Baptist Brethren Church,  "Dunkers" and lived as neighbors in Clermont county, Ohio in the early 1800's. 

Here are my choices to receive the Ancestor Approved Award

1.  A Tale of Two Ancestors
2.  The Genealogy Search
3.  Kick-Ass Genealogy
4.  Digging in ... To My Past
5.  Genealogy Traces
6.  Gen Wish List
7.  Random Relatives
8.  Lucie's Legacy
9. Ancestral Notes
10.Kinfolk News