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Wordless Wednesday 10/18/23
Posted in Anthony, Wordless Wednesday
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Wordless Wednesday 10/11/23
Posted in Coble, Wordless Wednesday
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Surprise – Month 8 of 12 Ancestors in 12 Months
So Where Are They?
Cousins, cousins everywhere but not a McLeod or Ligget in sight. On Ancestry.com I have 50,744 DNA matches: 39,744 are connected to my paternal line; 9,643 are connected to my maternal line; 1,049 have not yet been assigned. Ancestry identifies 15 of the 50,744 matches as close family; of the 15, nine are 2nd or 3rd cousins but seven of the 15 have no trees so I cannot trace who they are. MyHeritage.com shows 15,208 DNA matches. MyHeritage relationships show one close family member {my half uncle, Eddie}, 20 extended family members, and 15,187 distant relatives.
My father’s lineage is pretty well documented as is my mother’s German side.
Now the surprising part: I have not been able to find any matches to my mother’s paternal side though I have found a few records. Well, you cannot have a DNA match if the other person has not tested. None of my siblings, their children, my full first cousins, or their children have tested with Ancestry or MyHeritage. I have a half uncle and a half first cousin who have tested, both on my paternal side. I begin to have more matches at the second cousin level. But still, no McLeods or Liggets.
My grandfather was Malcolm McLeod. His father was John McLeod and his mother was Sarah Ligget. My grandfather was born in Bruce, Ontario, Canada in 1900 and his family immigrated to the United States in 1902 and settled in San Bernardino (Del Rosa), California.
So now it’s time to take a more in-depth look at the McLeods and Liggetts to see if there are some relatives that I should be able to find. My grandfather, Malcolm McLeod, and my grandmother, Annie Anthony, had two children, William and Geraldine, my mother.
My Uncle Bill and Aunt Toni adopted my cousin but had no biological children. My mom, Jerrie, and my dad, Bill, had three children. Neither my sister or my brother (now deceased) have had their DNA tested. I also have a half sister who has not tested. So…no close relatives other than my half uncle at this point show as DNA matches.
Next, I look at my mother’s paternal grandparents to see if I can find some my answers there. John and Sarah had four sons.
My grandfather, Malcolm was the 3rd son. His oldest brother, William, was born in 1889. There is record of him in the 1910 census but absolutely no record of him anywhere after that. I cannot find a death record or obituary for him. There is no record of him marrying and having any children. The second son, George (1896-1956), married but he and his wife had no children. The youngest son, Leroy (1905-2001), did not marry and had no children. So…my mother had no 1st cousins on her father’s side.
I then decided to look at my 2nd great grandparents. John’s parents were Malcolm McLeod and Mary Stewart. I can find almost no information about them and cannot find any other children that they had; therefore John may have been an only child. Sarah’s parents were Oliver Ligget and Catherine Stewart. Oliver and Catherine had two children, Sarah and her brother George. George stayed in Canada and spelled his last name Leggett. George married Hannah Russell and they had five children: Marjorie, Stewart, Russell, Mary Eileen, and Jennie.
MyHeritage allows you to search for cousins based on location. I currently have 276 DNA matches who live in Canada. At this point, I found no surname matches but that is not unusual. None of these matches had extensive trees (if they had a tree at all) and as of yet, I have not found how I match to them. However, it is definitely likely that I will eventually find a DNA match or two that connect to Oliver and Catherine Ligget (Leggett).
My surprise isn’t what I found; it’s what I didn’t find.
Wordless Wednesday 9/13/23
Posted in McLeod, Wordless Wednesday
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Wordless Wednesday 9/6/23
Posted in Anthony, McLeod, Wordless Wednesday
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Disaster – Generations Cafe Ancestry Challenge
Hawaii – a Land of Extremes
Hawaii is a place of spectacular beauty with a fascinating cultural history.
My first visit to Hawaii was with Sandy Hames in 1986. We felt very adventurous and visited Oahu and Maui.
Gary and I fell in love with Hawaii and have made five trips – each trip completely different from the others. We’ve created many memories. One of our favorite activities is going to a luau. Each one has been a totally different experience where we ate authentic island food and “witnessed the true spirit of Hawaii and Polynesian culture.”
Our latest trip was a Norwegian Cruise around the islands in March 2023. We started out in Oahu where we spent three days then it was on to the ship. We spent two days in Maui, two days on Hawaii, the “Big Island,” where we had a wonderful excursion in Hilo but were unable to tender to Kona due to high seas, two days in Kaua’i, ending with a view of the Na Pali Coastline. We saw some absolutely incredible scenery and had a wonderful time.
Gary and I spent a day exploring Lahaina. We did some shopping on Front Street and discovered a quaint Italian restaurant a block off of Front Street where we had lunch. Gary bought a ukulele; while he was deciding which one “spoke” to him, I had ice cream in the little store connected to the music shop. And right across the street was the star of the town – the 150 year old banyan tree which as the largest banyan tree in the United States covers 1.94 acres (Lahaina Banyan Tree). We got a couple of good photos of this amazing tree.
On August 8, 2023, disaster struck Lahaina and much of Maui. Drought, low humidity, high winds due to Hurricane Dora to the south of the islands, and high pressure to the north of the islands created an unbelievable weather event that combined with downed power lines caused a horrendous fire that destroyed historic Front Street as well as much of Lahaina and other communities in Maui.
According to an account in the Las Vegas Sun on August 16, 2023, “The smoke was starting to blot the sun. Winds were howling, and heat bore down as flames licked the trees on the horizon. The power had been out all day so Mike Cicchino thought he’d drive to the hardware store for a generator. He turned off his street, and in an instant, his Lahaina neighborhood seemed to spiral into a war zone.” As of August 26, 2023 there are 115 confirmed dead and 388 people remained unaccounted for.
One of our former Desert Springs Middle School colleagues is currently living and teaching in Maui. I’ve texted with her and she’s okay, but her school burned down and many of her students and some of her friends lost everything. This really makes it personal.
There are moments of hope. People have been very generous and caring but the recovery will take a long time and the grief is certainly overwhelming for many of these people. They will need our continued support.
Now back to that banyan tree…it was scorched and damaged in the fire but experts expect it to recover, a resiliency that the people of Maui also have.
On our 1990 trip to Hawaii we saw firsthand another Hawaiian disaster. We were on the Big Island during the eruption the Pu’u O’o Crater. This volcano erupted in 1986 and continued for 35 years. We happened to be there in 1990 during its most destructive phase. This volcano completely destroyed two villages.
The Hawaiian people rely on land and nature even when it is harsh. Their lives are steeped in culture and tradition. They believe in Ohana or Family and accept all as Ohana. Appreciate all that we can learn from these philosophies.
Sources
Galofaro, Clare, et al. “‘Pandemonium’ in Paradise.” Las Vegas Sun, Associated Press, 16 Aug. 2023, digital.olivesoftware.com/olive/odn/reviewjournal/default.aspx.
“Lahaina Banyan Tree.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Aug. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahaina_Banyan_Tree.
“Puʻu ʻŌʻō.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Mar. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu%CA%BBu_%CA%BB%C5%8C%CA%BB%C5%8D.
Wordless Wednesday 8/23/23
Posted in Coble, Wordless Wednesday
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Wordless Wednesday 8/16/23
Posted in McLeod, Wordless Wednesday
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