Family history

Wednesdays have become the highlight of my week.  I can hardly wait for tomorrow night when we go to the Family History Center at Mark’s church, so I thought I’d write about what I’ve been learning.

I’ve seen a photo of my grandmother’s marriage certificate signed by her father-in-law who apparently acted as the minister.  When Mom and her siblings were little, her dad divorced her mom and her grandparents moved in with them.  I decided to follow the Westcott family line, which was Grandma’s maiden name.  My great-grandpa Westcott lost his father in the Hawes’ Shop Virginia battle of the Civil War.  His mother remarried to Alfred Poe, whom my grandmother once told me was related to Edgar Allen Poe.  Great-grandpa Westcott ran away from home when he was about 12 years old.  He went to Chicago and eventually got a job with the Pullman Car Shops.  When he was young he and two companions went by barge down the Mississippi to New Orleans.  Later he went back to Michigan and became a servant to a farmer.  At 21 he married a 17 year old and they had two children, a boy and a girl.  Later they divorced and he remarried and had my grandmother.

I’ve got names of Westcott ancestors going back to 1164 in England.  For a while I thought there might be royalty in our line, but that turned out to be the brother of one of my ancestors, and he apparently married into it.  Sigh!

I’ve always been interested in family history, but this is the first time I’ve been so excited about it that I look forward to going to work on it.  Warning:  Working on family history can be addicting!  🙂

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