White / Whyte - Surname

My White ancestors were from Scotland and emigrated to Canada around 1820. They  used both spellings, White and Whyte and some descendants can now be found using both.

Me
>Harvey Gordon Berry, 1926 Syracuse, NY - 2000 Haines City, FL
>>Mary Leith Kelly, 1900 Calabogie, Ontario, Canada - 1970 Syracuse, NY (married Kimberly Berry)
>>>Isabella White, 1865 Watson's Corners, Ontario, Canada - 1951 Syracuse, NY (Married James Kelly)
>>>>James M White, 1824-1907, both Dalhousie, Ontario, Canada (Married Isabella Craig)
>>>>>John White, abt 1800 Hawick, Roxburgshire, Scotland - 1877 Dalhousie, Lanark, Canada.

Related posts

Craig - Adam / Craig - White Marriages
White - Kelly Marriage
Kelly - Berry Marriage
Eliza? Jane? Mary?
Where Were They 100 Years Ago?
A Large Piece of Family History
Canadian Roots
Nameless Faces
16 Great Grands
Matrilineal Line
Middle Name Mysteries
Caldwell and Leith Connections Found?

Middle Name Mysteries

When I first started exploring my family history there were certain names that jumped out at me and I was certain that they held clues that would lead me to previous generations. .

First there was Isaac Ashley Carlisle. He always went by Ashley, or occasionally I. Ashley so surely I must of had an Ashley ancestor back there somewhere. Not exactly. He was named for his father's brother-in-law, Isaac Ashley of Rochester, NY. He was extremely generous to the family and naming a child for him was simply a way of honoring him for what he'd done.

My grandmother's brother was named Leroy Eastwood Camfield. I struggled with my Camfield and Graham lines for years and was certain that Eastwood was a clue. I learned through the family letters that Mr. Eastwood was a business man in South Bend, Indiana that my great-grandfather admired.

But there has been one success. David Glover was the son of Henry Glover and Hannah Lewis. He named a son Lewis E. Glover and a daughter Hannah Lewis Glover. For his other children I only have middle initials except for my great-great-grandmother. Her name was Lousia Lambert Glover. I still have no idea if Lambert is a hint but I keep it in mind as I work on this line.

My grandfather was Kimberly Powell Berry. Not only is he the only male named Kimberly that I've come across but I'm stumped on the middle name Powell. Grandpa's siblings were Mabel Gertrude, Esther Lillian and Thomas David, nothing that seems to be a surname for any of them. For now grandpa's name remains a mystery.

My grandmother and most (maybe all) of her siblings had surnames as middle names.
The children of James C Kelly and Isabella White were:

1. James Hurcombe Kelly
2. Mabel Adam Kelly
3. Phillip Goodwin Kelly
4. Alexander Craig Kelly
5. Mary Leith Kelly
6. Gordon ____ Kelly
7. Isabelle Caldwell Kelly
8. Joseph _____ Kelly

Isabella White's mother was Isabella Craig and her mother was Agnes Adam.

I have lots of work to do on this section of my tree. I'm hoping that keeping a post-it on my computer with the names Hurcombe, Goodwin, Leith and Caldwell helps me fill in some of the blanks.

Thomas Berry and the Church of England

Thomas David Berry was born 8 September 1829 in Blockley, Worcester, England and Baptized on Sunday 18 October 1829 at St Peter and St Paul's Church in Blockley. So began Thomas' lifelong association with the Anglican Church. 



St Peter's and St Paul's sits in the center of town and a church (perhaps the original foundations of the current church) are traced back to at least 1086 and the Domesday Book. In The history of Blockley in the county of Worcester, Alfred J Soden 1875 is found:

In his collections, Bigland describes the parish church of Blockley as consisting of a "spacious nave, and north aisle of the middle ages. The chancel, of the Saxon style, is probably the same structure that is described in Domesday Book."

Rev Soden describes in detail many of the changes, reconstructions and additions made to the church. A major renovation was undertaken in 1838 but overall I believe the church appeared as depicted in this 1871 picture for all of Thomas' time in Blockley.

Also included in the book is this diagram of the inside of the church.

I was unable to find any photos of the inside of the church that I can share here but there are photos of St Peter and Paul's Church, at Church Crawls. The pictures of the interior make the church seem much smaller than the outside views. I wonder at the age of the baptismal font. Was it the one used when Thomas was baptized or was it the one used when for his children?

The Berry family were poor and the men worked six days a week as agricultural laborers and the women and children worked in the silk mills. I don't know how much of a role the church would have played in their day to day life. I assume, but have not verified, that his parents and two of his children are buried in the cemetery. Thomas, his wife Jane and five of their seven children left the poverty of Blockley behind in 1874 to start a new life in Canada.

The family was enumerated on the 1881 census in Gloucester, Russell County (now part of Ottawa, Carleton County), Ontario, Canada. Dist 104, sub dist E, div 2. pg 31, family 142. Thomas gave his occupation as miller and for religion was written England. I have not discovered which church they would have attended at that time but that is where Thomas' youngest child, Amelia, would have been baptized.

Thomas moved to the Bytown section of Ottawa by 1899. On the 1901 census he listed his occupation as sexton. I also had recorded that he was listed as sexton and that he lived at 118 Nelson St. in the 1899 city directory so I started looking on google maps for Anglican churches near Nelson St and I quickly found two. All Saints on Chapel St wasn't old enough but St Alban's on King Edward Ave seemed very likely and I learned quite a bit about the history of the church but found nothing to link the Berry family to it.

So I decided to revisit the city directories to see if I could determine when he moved to Nelson St and when he was first listed as sexton rather than laborer. He is found just outside the city in the 1888-1889 directory and at 66 Nelson St in the 1889-1890 edition. His occupation was given as laborer until the 1895-1896 Ottawa City Directory when he was listed as the sexton of St. John's Church.


I quickly found St. John the Evangelist Church in Ottawa but after reading the history of the church I learned that the current St John's was Grace Church until 1913. The St John's that Thomas Berry was the sexton of was located at the corner of Sussex and Rue George, less than 3/4 of a mile from where Thomas lived. St John's on Sussex St burned in 1912 so there are no recent photos of the church. I was able to find a photo from c.1870.

Thomas died in 1907 and his wife, Jane, in 1914 and with their deaths my branch of the Berry family's association with the Anglican church ended. My great-grandfather Joseph and my grandfather, Kimberly were both members of the Congregational Church.

In writing this for the 109th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy I spent several hours learning more about the Church of England and learned much about the history of the religion and a little of the theology but I am left with many unanswered questions such as how Thomas felt about his church and why he chose St John's rather than another?

Carnival Poster by footnote Maven.

Surname Saturday - Berry

My maiden name is Berry. My line starts in Syracuse, NY and travels back to Ottawa, Canada and to Blockley, England.

Me
>Harvey Gordon Berry 1926-2000; Syracuse,Onondaga, New York
>>Kimberly Powell Berry 1900-1984; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
>>>Joseph Berry 1871-1903; Blockley, Worcestershire, England
>>>>Thomas David Berry 1829-1907; Blockley, Worcestershire, England
>>>>>Abraham Berry abt 1803-1854; Blockley, Worcestershire, England


Abraham and Ann Berry had the following children:

• Sarah Berry, born 1824 Guiting Power, Gloucestershire, England. She had a daughter, Lucy Ann Berry b. 1852. Sarah married 1st in 1856, George Hawker and they had a daughter, Eliza Hawker b 1862. She married 2nd in 1872, William Haines and their daughter was Anne Berry Haines b 1873. 
• Anne Berry, born 1826 Upton Old, Blockley, Worcestershire, England. She married John Shepard in 1849. They had a daughter, Ann Shepard b 1850. I have not traced Anne further and she most likely had more children.
• Thomas David Berry, born 8 Sept 1829 Blockley, Worcestershire, England. He married Jane Rawlins (Rollings, Rollins, etc) in 1851. They had the following children in Blockley, England. 1) James 1852-1902, married Elizabeth Coney. 2) Caroline 1854-1856. 3) Sarah Ann 1856-? 4) Amelia 1857-1859. 5) John 1860-? 6) Caroline 1862-1930, married Arthur J M Wilson. 7) Mary 1863-?  8) Charles 1868-1961, married Annetta E. Hollington. 9) Joseph 1871-1903, married Charlotte T.K. Hollington [sister of Annetta] Thomas and Jane moved to Canada in 1874 accompanied by their youngest five children. They had one more child born in Ottawa 10) Amelia 1879-1906. Thomas died in Ottawa 11 May 1907.
• Mary Ann Berry, born 1831 Guiting Power, Gloucestershire, England. She married John Hopkins in 1854. Their children all born Bourton on the Hill, Gloucestershire, England: 1)Daniel 1857. 2) William 1862. 3) Frank 1867. 4) Kate 1869. 5) Thomas 1871. 6) Ellen 1874. 7) John Aulter 1880 or 1881.
• William Berry, born 1833 Guiting Power, Gloucestershire, England.
• John Berry, born 1835 Guiting Power, Gloucestershire, England.
• George Berry, born 1837 Aston, Blockley Parish, Worcestershire, England.

Previous posts:

Thomas David Berry
Brief biography

Fashionable to Practical
Photo of Kimberly and Thomas Berry

Ancestors I Have Met

Wedding Belle
Photo of my siblings

Time on the Farm
Our stint as tobacco farmers

Headstone of Kimberly and Mary (Kelly) Berry 

Kimberly Berry's Car c. 1928

Kelly - Berry Marriage

Syracuse Baby Camp
History of the home my father grew up in
Other views of the house

Photo of Harvey Berry 1926
Photo of Harvey Berry c.1928
Photo of Harvey Berry c. 1929
Photo of Harvey Berry c.1931
Newspaper photo of Harvey Berry 1941
Photo of Harvey Berry c.1946

SNGF - Matrilineal Line

This week for our Saturday night fun, Randy has challenged us to list our matrilineal line. I did that not long ago with Faces of my mtDNA.

Randy also listed his father's matrilineal line so here is mine.

1. Harvey Gordon Berry, 1926 Syracuse, NY - 2000 Haines City, FL
2. Mary Leith Kelly, 1900 Calabogie, Ontario, Canada - 1970 Syracuse, NY. Married Kimberly Powell Berry.
3. Isabella White, 1865 Ontario, Canada - 1951 Syracuse, NY. Married James C Kelly.
4. Isabella Craig, 1826 Paisley, Renfrew, Scotland - 1908 Dalhousie, Lanark, Ontario, Canada. Married James M. White.
5. Agnes Adam, 1802 Paisley, Renfrew, Scotland - 1882 Dalhousie, Lanark, Ontario, Canada. Married John Craig.
6. Isobel McDougal, dates unknown, Scotland. Married James Adam.

Mary L Kelly had no daughters so the line did not continue with her.

Isabella White had one granddaughter, who also had a daughter.

Isabella Craig had two other daughters but I do not nelieve either of them had a daughter.

Agnes Adam - as far as I know she had just the one daughter but there may have been others.

Isobel McDougal had several daughters and I have not researched this line myself.

To my knowledge no one in my or my father's mtDNA line has had their DNA tested and there a currently no plans to do so.

Fashionable to Practical

May (Jarvis) Berry, Thomas Jarvis, Elizabeth (Peter) Jarvis, Charlotte (Hollington, Berry) Sanders, Thomas David Berry. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. 1920's (Charlotte's husband, Harvey Harry Sanders, was most likely the photographer)

Thomas David Berry was my grandfather's brother. I initially thought this picture was probably taken on his wedding day in 1922 but after looking at the hemlines and cloche hats the ladies are sporting I not believe that the picture may be from c. 1925-1926. No matter the year, they were a well turned out group!

May's dress is very pretty and has a lot of detail. Her mother, Elizabeth, doesn't look very comfortable in this picture! My great-grandmother, Lottie, was always a fashionable lady, check out the fox tail she is sporting!. Mr. Jarvis is wearing a sport coat and holding a straw hat. Uncle Tom is wearing striped suit and holding a camera. Note that the only person without glasses is May.

Fast forward forty years to Easter 1962 and Tom and May still looked great! They were visiting in Syracuse, NY that spring. Note that May now has a fashionable pair of glasses.

Back: Mom, May (Jarvis) Berry, Tom Berry. Front: Kim Berry with my brother, Dallas and Mary (Kelly) Berry with Moi. (Dad was undoubtedly the photographer)


This next picture is from 1926. Jessie (Hollington) Taylor has on a very nice day dress. I believe the other woman is either her sister, Elizabeth (Hollington) Shouldice or perhaps a cousin (Lilian Hollington Mahley?) and is wearing a very practical day dress.

This picture is from February 1927. Jessie (Hollington) Taylor is holding her grand-nephew, Harvey G. Berry. A nice fur coat, fashionable handbag and I'm certain the hat was in style for the times. Perfect attire for an Ottawa winter!

This last picture is most likely c.1940 and is my grandmother's side of the family. Everyone dressed up for the photo, however great-grandma Kelly kept on her very practical apron!

 Isabelle (Kelly) McKinstry, Kimberly Berry, Isabella (White) Kelly, Mary (Kelly) Berry and unidentified man. c. 1940, most likely Ottawa, Canada.

This was written for the 9th edition of the Canadian Genealogy Carnival: Canadian Fashion Fads, to be hosted by Kathryn Lake at Looking for Ancestors.

Faces of my mtDNA

Mitochondrial DNA is passed from a mother to her children. While I have passed my mtDNA on to both my son and daughter only my daughter was able to pass it on. These are some of the women with whom I share mitochondrial DNA.

This is my granddaughter, Sprout (M.A.E.) Isn't her first official school picture adorable? Does the fate of our mtDNA line rest soley with her? I have two other equally adorable granddaughters, however my step-son could not pass on mtDNA to them.

Sprout's beautiful mother is Bean (S.J.E.), my only daughter. Fiercely independent and very smart she received a B.S. degree from Wells College in Bio-Chemistry and swore children were not for her. Currently she is married and a full time mother of two. Sprout has a brother, Twig (H.J.E.), who is cute as a button. I couldn't be more proud of my daughter.

That brings us to me (C.A.G.). An old picture and when I look in the mirror I wonder where the years have gone. I married at 17 and stayed married just long enough to have two beautiful children. I've been married to John (F.J.G.) for 26 years now. Bean gets her smarts from me but somehow I wasn't smart enough to figure out how to pay for college and get my teaching degree. I've held an interesting mix of jobs; retail, insurance auditor, travel agent, and ten wonderful years as a full time mother and community volunteer. These days I drive a school bus where I can occasionally be found teaching without the proper degree.

I have "better" pictures of Mom (P.C.B.) but this is one of my favorites because she is smiling. Mom's laugh is contiguous. I get my smarts from her. Salutatorian of Buchanan High School Class of 1943! She went on to the University of Michigan before joining the Navy. She met my father in the service, settled in Syracuse, NY, held several jobs and gave up any hope of ever having children. I was quite a surprise! I was followed by a brother and a sister and Mom spent several years as a full time mother. After my father left us she returned to work as an insurance auditor and later a mortgage clerk. She retired at the age of 70 but likes her independence and lives alone in the house she has been in for more than 45 years.

Here is a picture of all four of us together. 

Mom also passed her mtDNA on to my sister (E.L.D.). This is the only picture in existance of just the three of us together and therefore one of my favorites. Sis has a lovely step-daughter but no children of her own so the line will not continue through her.

Moving back another generation is my maternal grandmother, Pearl Vivian Camfield Carlisle. She was born 14 July 1886 in South Bend, IN. We all inherited our smarts from her. She attended business school there and worked at the Singer Sewing Machine cabinet factory in South Bend working her way up to become the assistant to the President of the factory. She gave up her professional life when she married and settled into life as a housewife. At the time she married she couldn't cook so back to school she went! She raised three children and stuck out a difficult marriage. Alzheimer's disease claimed her final years.

 

Pearl had another daughter, Vivian Ruth Carlisle LaValle. Aunt Vivian also had two daughters and they are shown below with Pearl. Neither of my cousins had a daughter so our mtDNA line did not continue with them.

Moving ever backward we come to the last female ancestor in this line that I have a photograph of, "Rose" Susan Arazina Graham Camfield. This is the only photo of her that I have ever seen. I have previously written about Rose. Her early years were hard and I believe she received little education. She was the mother of five. She and her husband seperated after the children were all grown and she spent the rest of her life living with one or another of her daughters.

Rose had three daughters, Mabel, Pearl and Ruby. The picture below is the one I cropped and she is standing with youngest daughter Ruby in front of their home in South Bend, IN. Ruby never married or had children. I have no picture of Mabel! Mabel Camfield Marsh did have a daughter, Vera Jane Marsh Edmunds. Vera Jane had a daughter, L.E.S. I found a picture of L.E.S. online but rather than violate the copyright you'll have to click here to see it. I asked Mom if L.E.S. had any daughters and she thinks that there were only sons but she isn't 100% certain.

 

Continuing the line further back I have no pictures. Rose was the daughter of Elizabeth Doughty Graham. Elizabeth was abandoned by her husband and left to try and raise five children on her own. The children were sent to live with other families so that she could work, work and work some more. Elizabeth died when she was only 53. Three of the five children were girls. Besides Rose there was Xenia Belle Graham Gallup,who had no children, and Sarah Jane Graham who never married or had any children that we know of.

Elizabeth's mother was Susanna Smith. Susanna was born about 1799 in Virginia. I know of only two children but there may have been others. Besides Elizabeth there was one other daughter, Margaret Sarah Doughty Horner. I have transcribed Margaret's divorce petition in which she mentions children however it does not state how many or of what sex they were. I know there was at least one daughter, Susannah Horner who was born in 1849 in Delaware County, Indiana. At this point I have not researched this line further so perhaps there are others out there with whom I share the same line of mtDNA.

This was written for the 21st edition of Smile for the Carmera: Give Their Face A Place, to be hosted by fM at Shades of the Departed.

My inspiration to use the faces of my mtDNA came from Dr. Blaine Bettinger at The Genetic Genealogist and his post: Visualizing Your Genetic Genealogy.

Mary LNU

This week Randy Seaver, at Genea-Musings, has tasked us with:

Hey, genies, it's Saturday Night, time for some Genealogy Fun!!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (where's my Mission Impossible music...drat, lost it), is:

1) Who is your MRUA - your Most Recent Unknown Ancestor? This is the person with the lowest number in your Pedigree Chart or Ahnentafel List that you have not identified a last name for, or a first name if you know a surname but not a first name.

2) Have you looked at your research files for this unknown person recently? Why don't you scan it again just to see if there's something you have missed?

3) What online or offline resources might you search that might help identify your MRUA?

4) Tell us about him or her, and your answers to 2) and 3) above, in a blog post, in a comment to this post, or a comment on Facebook or some other social networking site.

Number #13 in my tree is my great-grandmother, Sarah Ann Camfield Carlisle, the adopted daughter of Michael and Sarah Ann (Wisner) Camfield. There may be records somewhere in Onondaga County detailing her adoption but I haven't looked for them. For me her adoptive parents are my family history. Perhaps one day I'll look into it more and discover the reason for her being given up.

The ancestor that I really should focus more effort on is number #21 in my tree, my 2nd great-grandmother, Mary. I am really focused on my maternal ancestors at present so I have done very little research on Mary.

My line to Mary is:

Me
>Harvey G Berry, 1926-2000
>>Mary Leith Kelly Berry, 1900-1970
>>>James Kelly, 1856-1936
>>>>Mary, born ?? - died ??

The first I find Mary is the 1855 New York Census, Jefferson County, Adams, page 217:

Michael Kelly, age 33, born Ireland, resident 2 yrs, alien
Mary Kelly, age 35, born Ireland, wife, resident 2 yrs, alien
John Kelly, age 2, born Canada, child, resident 2 yrs, alien
Ann Kelly, age 11/12, born New York, child

So from this I learn she was born about 1830 in Ireland. She moved to Canada at some point prior to 1853, when son John was born and very shortly after his birth the family moved to Adams, NY.

I believe she spent the remainder of her life in Adams, NY.

1860 - age 27, born Ireland
1870 - age 33, born Ireland
1880 - age 45, widow, born France, parents born Ireland
1900 - age 69, widow, born Aug 1830 Ireland, parents born Ireland

I believe Mary died about 1901 so I should be able to find a death certificate for her that may give me more information. I have searched the local papers available at Old Fulton Post Cards, however there may be more in the South Jefferson Historical Society clipping file.

My grandmother was named Mary Leith Kelly. Could Leith have been Mary's maiden name?

I travel often to southern Jefferson county as that is where my sister lives but rarely travel further to Adams or Watertown. So I need an afternoon off where I can go and see what records can be found.

SNGF - Ancestors I Have Met

Here is this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, hosted by Randy Seaver at GeneaMusings.

Here is your challenge for tonight (or whenever you read this):

1) Write down which of your ancestors that you have met in person (yes, even if you were too young to remember them).

2) Tell us their names, where they lived, and their relationship to you in a blog post, or in comments to this post, or in comments on Facebook.

Mine is a very short list. I only met three of my grandparents and none of my great-grandparents. My mother's father, Daniel M. Carlisle, died just a month after I was born. So technically we were alive at the same time but we were never together.

Harvey Gordon Berry, 1926 - 2000. Dad was born in Syracuse, NY. Moved to Clayton, NC in the 70's, on to El Paso, TX in the 80's and finally retired to Haines City, FL. Although he died in Florida, he is buried in North Carolina. He was named for his father's step-father and his mother's brother.

Mom. Happily she is still with us and hopefully will be for a good while yet.

Kimberly Powell Berry, 1900- 1984. My father's father. Kim was born in Ottawa, Ontario. He moved to Syracuse, NY in the mid 20's and remained there the rest of his life. He became a naturalized US citizen. The SSDI indicates he died in Texas and is incorrect. He died in Syracuse. Living close by I was able to know him well. I have no idea where his name comes from. Kimberly is unusual for a man. I've often wondered why he was given Powell for a middle name but so far I have found no family connection.(Kim's father, Joseph Berry, died when Kim was a boy and his mother remarried to Harvey Harry Sanders. I did meet "Grandpa" Harry although I do not remember him.)

Mary Leith Kelly Berry, 1900 - 1970. My father's mother. Mary was born in Calabogie, Ontario. I'm not certain when her family moved Ottawa, Ontario. A good looking guy named Kim lived next door. After their marriage in 1922 they moved to Syracuse, NY. Mary refused to become naturalized because she felt she was already a US citizen because her father had been born in the US. Mary was her paternal grandmother's name. I still have not discovered her maiden name and wonder if it was Lieth? Grandma and I had many adventures together.

Pearl Vivian Camfield Carlisle, 1886 - 1972. My mother's mother. Pearl was born in South Bend, IN. She was married in Alamo, TX and after living there briefly she moved to Buchanan, MI. She remained there until sometime in the 60's when she required nursing home care, where she spent her final years in Niles, MI. Her parents simply liked her name. I have pictures of me with Grandma when I was about a year old. The time I remember meeting her she was in the nursing home and it was a rather unpleasant visit for a child. I wish I had had the chance to know her better.

SNGF - 16 Great Grands

Randy's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun for this week:

Here is your SNGF assignment for the evening (if you choose to accept it - this is not stump the genealogist or even Mission Impossible):

1) List your 16 great-grandparents in pedigree chart order. List their birth and death years and places.

2) Figure out the dominant ethnicity or nationality of each of them.

3) Calculate your ancestral ethnicity or nationality by adding them up for the 16 - 6.25% for each (obviously, this is approximate).

4) If you don't know all 16 of your great-grandparents, then do it for the last full generation you have.

5) Write your own blog post, or make a comment on Facebook or in this post.

Listing them all out shows me where I have some holes to fill.

16. Thomas David Berry was born 8 Sept 1821 in Blockley, Worcestershire, England and died 4 May 1907 in or near Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. On 4 August 1851, in Blockley Parish, Worcestershire, England, he married......

17. Jane Rawlings was born 8 September 1830 in Bourton on the Hill, Gloucestershire, England and died 20 September 1914 in or near Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

18. James Hollington was married 7 August 1845 in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada and died 31 August 1923 Nepean, Carleton, Ontario, Canada. On 27 April 1868, in St Mathews, Quebec City, Canada, he married..........

19. Sarah Ann Ross was born 1848 in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada and died 21 June 1882 in Ottawa, Carleton, Ontario, Canada.

20. Michael Kelly was born about 1822 in Ireland and died between 1870 and 1880 most likely in Adams, Jefferson, NY. It appears he may have immigrated to Canada prior to moving to the USA. It is not know when or where he married..........

21. Mary is missing her maiden name! She was born Aug 1830 and died in 1901 or 1902 in Adams, Jefferson, NY.

22. James M. White was born November 1824 in Dalhousie Twp, Lanark, Ontario, Canada and died 20 May 1907 in Dalhousie Twp, Lanark, Ontario, Canada. On 31 December 1855, at at the Manse of Dalhousie by James Geggie, Minister, ............

23. Isabella Craig was in 1826 in Paisley, Renfrew, Scotland. She died 1 October 1908 in Watson's Corners, Dalhousie Twp, Lanark, Ontario, Canada.

24. Daniel Carlisle was born 22 September 1797 in Westmoreland, Cheshire, New Hampshire and died 31 March 1872 in Buchanan, Berrien, Michigan. He married 1st Louisa Glover. He married 2nd, Hannah Lewis Glover, sister of Louisa.

25. Louisa Lambert Glover was born 24 December 1801 in Dedham, Norfolk, Massachusetts and died 1851 in Cass, Michigan.

26/28. Michael Camfield was born 15 March 1822 in Germany and died 18 February 1899 in Batavia, Branch, Michigan. About 1845 in Onondaga, New York he married.........

27/29. Sarah Ann Wisner was born 9 October 1817 in Onondaga, New York and died February 1912 in Buchanan, Berrien, Michigan.

Pearl Camfield married her cousin Ashley Carlisle which explains the above double entries. However Sarah Ann Camfield was actually the adopted daughter of Michael Camfield and Sarah Ann Wisner. I have very little hope of ever learning who her biological parents but I've had fun trying.

30. James M. Graham was born about 1825 in Ohio and died 28 October 1897 in Hoyle, Woods, OK. On 22 Aug 1844, in Delaware, Indiana he married Elizabeth Doughty. She divorced him in 1855.

31. Elizabeth Doughty was born 1826 in Fort Comfort, Virginia and died 05 Jan 1880 in Niles, Berrien, Michigan.


My ancestors came from Great Britain with just a few exceptions. Michael Camfield was from Germany and there is a drop or two of Dutch and Swiss ancestry in the 1600's.

For nationalities I have 5 from the USA, 3 from Canada, 2 from England, 2 from Ireland, 1 from Scotland and 1 from Germany plus 2 unknown.

Wedding Belle

My wedding attire was very traditional - for my family at least. For both of my weddings I wore a very practical dress that I could also wear to work. My mother wore a pink, wool suit for her wedding. I do not have the details but I'm fairly certain that Grandma Pearl wore a nice traveling dress and certainly neither Anna nor Sarah Ann wore a fancy white dress. Grandma Berry's wedding attire was a skirt and blouse and rather plain but she eventually owned some lovely gowns. I can't imagine that any others of my paternal ancestors wore anything that wasn't perfectly practical.

Although there is certainly nothing wrong with a small wedding and simply wearing your best clothes, I always felt that I had somehow missed out. When my sister announced her engagement I was thrilled for her. I was doubly thrilled when she asked me to be her matron of honor and to go shopping with her for a bridal gown. Several gowns were tried before one with a lovely Chapel train. When I first saw her in that gown I teared up. She was certainly a beautiful bride and family tradition has now been changed.






This was written for the 14th edition of Smile for the Camera.

Time on the Farm

I've mentioned before that most of my childhood memories are a bit blurry. Snapshots of time rather than video if you will. Some of my clearest memories are of the farm my father and step-mother had in North Carolina. They weren't there all that long and my time there only consisted of a couple of summers and one school year.

We never had a pet when I was young. We did have a cat when I was older. On the farm we had all kinds of animals. There were dogs, a terrier that loved to play ball and torment the bull, a collie with a mean streak and a couple of others that didn't stay long. We had some cows, mostly Charolais and a bull named Gordy. There was a hog lot and a smoke house. Chickens, turkeys and guinea hens. Best of all there were also a stubborn pony and quarter horse named Stormy.

I have very few pictures of the farm and none have been scanned yet. You came through the gate at the road and were greeted by two green tar papered tobacco barns. Straight ahead was a gate to the main pasture and just the other side of the gate was a pecan tree. (I can still see that tree and myself sitting under it, cracking nuts that I was supposed to be gathering.) The driveway took a turn to the left and continued down to the yard where there was a single wide trailer and two block buildings, one a smoke house and the other a pump house.

There was also a barn. My father got it in his head that being from the north he had to build a barn with a hip roof. Because it was in the south it was built up on blocks, well off of the ground. I was always under the impression that this was to keep out critters like snakes and rats but I fail to see how this would have stopped them so maybe there was another reason. Dad built it himself with the occasional help of a friend and of course us. The day he decided to but up the big aluminum sheets for the roof I seemed to be the only one around to help so he tied a rope around his middle, tossed it over the center beam and gave me the other end so I could haul him back over if he fell. Thankfully he didn't fall and I didn't get sling-shotted over to the hog lot!

Beyond the barn was the home garden. Up until my time on the farm I was familiar with peas and corn, both of which came in tin cans. We also had iceberg lettuce now and then. On the farm we grew all sorts of things I'd never heard of. There were collards, black-eyed peas, okra and tomatoes. Rows of potatoes and yams. Based on my memories I'd say that the garden had to have been at least half an acre, possibly more. I learned to hoe weeds and kill snakes. I learned how to can.

Our main crop was tobacco, which I've written about as My First Job. During the school year that I spent there I learned to mix the seed with sand and broadcast it in a small bed. Then we worried over it until it was big enough to transplant to the field. The small plants were pulled and laid very neatly in a basket. Then my step-sister and I sat on the back of a contraption that was pulled by the tractor and fed the plants into a wheel as it came around and set the plants in the field. There were several plants missed in the first row but I soon got the hang of it. Everything about tobacco was monotonous and there were days I thought I'd die of boredom.

It wasn't all work. We had a small pond and I can remember fishing with bamboo poles. I don't remember ever catching a fish but I do remember being terrified of both the snakes and snapping turtles that lived there. There was also the horse and pony to ride. What city kid wouldn't be thrilled to ride a horse? After I'd been led around on the horse for some time I was finally allowed to ride by myself in the pasture in front of the house. We started to fly around and it was pure joy. I headed back toward the house and everyone was yelling and waving their arms at me. Just in time I got the message that I was directing the horse straight for the hot-wire fence. It was a long time before I was allowed to ride alone again. Being short I always had a hard time getting on the horse and being younger I usually got stuck with the pony. Funny that I can't remember it's gender or it's name. The pony earned it's keep by pulling a cart and my step-mother also used it to plow one small field that we couldn't get the tractor into. It was a smart pony that didn't like to be ridden. The first time I saddled it myself it swelled out it's chest so that the saddle wasn't as tight as it could be. I put my foot in the stirrup and the saddle slid right around and dumped me in the dust and I swear I heard that pony laugh. There was another time that I decided to ride on my own but the pony had other ideas. We got as far as the road and it took of off for the neighbors yard and right under their pine trees. There was plenty of clearance for the pony but not for me. We ran around the yard twice and then headed straight home.

I also learned the realities of where the meat on the table came from. I couldn't eat chicken for several years. We had a feed lot for the cows that we planned to butcher and learned not to get attached to them. The time came when it was decided to butcher the bull, Gordy. Now Gordy was a very tame bull and more like a pet. He was loaded onto the trailer and Dad took him to the butcher. He came back and filled the freezer. We made it clear that we wouldn't be eating Gordy. So Dad loaded the meat back into the truck and went back to town and traded Gordy for someone else's meat. I suspect that Dad merely drove around or maybe stopped into the feed store to have a good laugh with the guys but we were appeased. There was another time that for what ever reason Dad brought the hogs that had been killed back from the butcher uncut. I remember there being lots of people there to help and we cut them ourselves and I got the job of helping to mix up the sausage and then pack it into casings. No part went to waste but I refused to even try the chitlins, feet or brains that others thought a treat.

Another chore I had was to milk the one Jersey cow we had. Not a fun job by any means. I swear that cow hated me and she could kick! I did love the fresh warm milk. I learned to make butter in a crock with an electric churn.

I learned so much in such a short period of time. I went back to being a city girl. I've lived in ten different homes as an adult and while some of them had nice landscaping I never had any real desire to garden until I moved here. My children are all on there own so I have plenty of time. We ended up here at a very stressful point in our marraige. Gardening has become therapeutic for me and knowing that I'll have the garden to play in helps me get through the very long winters. Up until now I've grown only flowers but today we'll plant a vegetable bed. My grandchildren will always think of me as a gardener and I hope I can pass on some of the things that I learned on the farm to them.



This was written for the 73rd edition of the Carnival of Genealogy, The Good Earth. I'm looking forward to hosting this edition right here at Apple's Tree.

Thank you to footnote Maven for the wonderful poster!

Time for Spring Cleaning

I took my mother for a drive last week and we stopped at Onondaga Valley Cemetery to visit my paternal grandparents grave. The stone is in need of cleaning and I need to get the shrubs that were planted nearly 40 years ago removed and replaced.

The company that the monument was purchased from is just a couple of minutes from where I work so I'll stop this week to see if they have a cleaning solution that is safe to use.

Many of the nearby monuments are in much worse shape and I've been walking for exercise in the local cemetery and have noticed many stones there that also need a good cleaning. I wouldn't mind cleaning them but I'm hesitant because I don't know any of these families. I would be very careful and I have read up and watched some videos about safe methods but still there is a chance I could leave some scratches or do other damage I guess.

What would you do? Have you ever cleaned a stone as a random act of kindness?

Mom, Grandma and Me

Well at least I think that is me! If it is, then Mom must have been pregnant with my brother. I don't recognize anything in the background but I'm guessing that that is Grandpa's car and we were at my grandparent's camp at Otisco Lake. I was born in December and since I'm standing I guess it must have been a warm fall day. Take a look at Mom's outfit! Her apron says "Week End Decorate" and Color" so perhaps she was dressed to do some painting. Grandma was well turned out as she always was. Even in a dress I still look like the little tomboy that I was. We were all wearing something on our heads and we all three had on white ankle socks.

The best part of the picture for me is Mom's smile! Maybe one of these when I visit I'll show Mom the picture and she'll actually remember when it was taken.





This was written for the 10th edition of Smile for the Camera: Costume, to be hosted by footnote Maven at Shades of the Departed.

Syracuse Baby Camp

Over the summer we were at my sister-in-laws camp at Sandy Pond for a family get-together. I got to chatting with my sister-in-law’s husband’s sister’s husband. I won’t repeat the entire conversation but part of it went something like this:

Me: Yah, I know that area, my grandparents lived on Rider.

Him: Oh yeah? Where on Rider?

Me: You know the two houses that used to be connected – the old orphanage? My grandparents lived in the one that used to be the staff quarters.

Him: My mother grew up in the house that was the orphanage.

Talk about a small world. We’d both been told that our grandparent’s houses had once been connected and used as an orphanage at some point. The conversation turned to other memories and I never did ask him if he knew anything more about the orphanage.

I got to thinking about our conversation recently and decided to look through old news items to see what I could find out about the orphanage. I knew that the houses are at 248 & 250 Rider Ave. Searching for these addresses didn’t yield anything prior to the 1940’s when I believed our families bought the houses. Searching for orphanage, orphan asylum and children’s home didn’t work. I would have given up thinking that I got the story wrong as a child except that we both remembered the same thing.

Out of frustration I started looking at ALL articles that a search brought up for Rider Ave prior to 1940 and there it was, the Syracuse Baby Camp at 234-236. A little more digging and I found that my grandparents had actually purchased their house in April 1936 and at that time the address was 234 River Ave, so no wonder I couldn’t find anything when searching for the address.

So what exactly was the Syracuse Baby Camp?

In the early 1900’s many children were living in tenements. In the summer, due to poverty, poor sanitation and lack of refrigeration, many children became ill. The tenements had poor air circulation and got very hot making ill children even worse. These children ended up in the local hospitals, many of them staying there for long periods on the tax payers’ dime.

The Visiting Nurse Association realized that what these children needed was fresh air and proper nutrition. In 1911 they discussed they idea of a Baby Day Camp. It would be set up in a tent; mothers would bring their sick babies for the day, to be cared for by the nurses and doctors if necessary. In the evening the babies would return to their homes to be brought back the next day and everyday until they were well. The mothers would also be educated in how to properly feed and care for their children. Some of the nurses felt that the camp really would need to be operated around the clock to be truly effective.

I do not know if a Baby Day Camp was opened in 1911. In the summers of 1912 through 1914 a full time Baby Camp was operated by the nurses at Rockwell Springs. I believe Rockwell Springs was near the area of South Salina and Pleasant Streets. It was set up in tents and very successful, being credited with keeping many babies out of the hospital and saving the tax payers considerable dollars.

In the Oct. 19, 1914 Post Standard I found the following short notice. “The dance will benefit the treasury of the organization more then usually depleted by the building of the summer camp for sick babies in Ryder avenue this summer”. The Baby Camp moved to the Rider Ave. location in the summer of 1915. I have not discovered how the Visiting Nurse Association acquired the two houses on Rider Ave. “The building of the summer camp” could mean that they actually built the house at #250 or it could mean that both houses were already there and they were attached and outfitted to their new purpose.

It remained a summer camp until 1925 or 1926, closing each year when the weather became too cold. Many civic organizations donated services, money and / or supplies to the camp over the years. It was an operation that was working and everyone could feel good about.

The following description of the camp appeared in the Nov. 25, 1927 edition of the Syracuse Herald: “The Visiting Nurse Association maintains a Baby Camp at 236 Rider Ave for undernourished babies and those in need of special supervision of diet. The camp is open winter and summer with a trained nurse in charge assisted by a nurse dietitian and seven practical nurses.”

“At present the camp is equipped only for babies under one year with beds for 30 children. The cost to the Visiting Nurse Association of caring for a baby in the camp is $14 a week and the family or organization placing the child are asked to meet this cost. But here, as in the daily visits, exceptions are made for babies needing such care whose parents are unable to meet the full cost.” The nine adults would have lived in my grandparent’s home when they were not on duty.

The Baby Camp was closed on June 1, 1931. It appears that the camp’s closing was not only a financial decision but also a social one. The 8 babies that were there at the time were placed in foster homes. At that time the value of the two houses was estimated at between $20,000 and 25,000. The houses were bought from the VNA early in 1936 by Arthur Barstow, a local real estate speculator, for 85,500. Maybe some day I’ll look at the records and see when the VNA obtained them, when they were built and how much my grandparents paid a couple of months later.

It was sad to stop and take this picture today. We sold the house (on the right in the photo) back in 1985 after my Grandfather died. It seemed to have changed so much, but really only the color had changed. Memories are funny things but there are a lot of great ones of this house from my childhood.


This originally appeared at The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree on 2 November 2006.

Grandma's Kitchen

I spent quite a lot of time in Grandma's kitchen over the years. There are pictures that were taken in the living room and dining room but thus far I haven't found any that were taken in the kitchen. That is probably because it was a fairly small room.

The kitchen was at the back of the house on the driveway side and there was a pair of windows that overlooked the driveway. There was a small drop leaf table pushed up against that wall. If you were looking at the table there was a door to the left that led out to the back porch. To the right was a door that led to a few steps down that took you to the side door and the driveway. Between these two doors was the milk box. An opening was made between two studs there was a door on either side. The milk man would open the outside door and leave the dairy products Grandma had ordered and we could open the inside door to retrieve them without having to go out in the cold as we did at home. The latches on those doors were really nothing special but they always fascinated me as a child.

Continuing our tour of the kitchen around from the door to the right was a wall of upper and lower cupboards with the sink set into the counter in the center of the wall. At the far end of this wall continuing to the right was the doorway to the dining room. This door was on a two way hinge so that the door could be pushed and opened into either room and we always called it "the swinging door" and probably drove Grandma nuts with our coming and going through it. This was a short wall and just past the door was a freestanding electric stove with a small open space beside it.

The last wall was the neatest! Grandma remodeled the kitchen in the 1950's and had a wall mounted refrigerator installed. There were three "cupboards" in the unit with one being the freezer. Below the refrigerator there was a counter and lower, regular cupboards. It was on this counter where Grandma taught to me use the electric mixer and to make the frosting that is a favorite of my friends and family.

Grandma was Canadian and held tight to her green card. She was never interested in US citizenship. There isn't much difference in the foods or meal customs between Ottawa and Syracuse that I've ever found except Grandma's custom of tea. I was given tea at an early age and taught how to properly drink it - hold the cup right and no slurping! (Grandma had daydreams of my one day meeting the Queen and I was also taught to curtsy properly!) Grandma did have a coffee pot for those guests who had to have it but Grandma always drank tea and not just any tea! Her tea was Red Rose and out of loyalty to Grandma it is the brand that I still buy today.

My sister has some of our grandmother's tea cups I believe and she has the most delightful tea parties in her garden.


These days I drink my tea out of one of my coffee mugs and the only tea cups I have are the ones that came as part of my set of good china. I do however cherish one of Grandma's silver sugar and creamer sets that is in dire need of polishing!


Breakfast was the meal consumed in the kitchen and soft boiled eggs were served several days a week. The egg was placed in an egg cup and you very carefully took aim with a butter knife and with skill you neatly lopped off the very top of the shell and then ate the egg with a special little spoon. I never quite mastered cleanly taking the top off and usually had bits of shell to pick out but oh the fun of being handed a knife at an early age and giving it a try.

This is one of Grandma's china egg cups and one that I was rarely trusted with!


This is the one that I was usually given to use. I don't have one of the special spoons that we used but it was very similar to the baby spoon shown here.


There was a very special sugar bowl that was always on the table but it did not hold sugar. Instead, it was kept full of orange marmalade to spread on your toast. I have no idea if this was a custom that my grandparents brought with them from Ottawa or if it was simply a family tradition that started with them. The bowl itself is a hand painted piece of Syracuse China.


My father was always very funny about foods, how they were prepared and how they were eaten. For example it was OK to put ketchup on a hamburger but not mustard. Mustard was fine for hot dogs but not ketchup! I thought he'd just about die every time one of my step-sisters covered their scrambled eggs with ketchup. He must have gotten this from his father. I remember being at my Grandparent's for breakfast one time when my cousins were also there. One of my cousins got into an argument with Grandpa over whether the sugar should be sprinkled over the cereal before or after the milk was added! Why this should have been a big deal to Grandpa I have no idea but if I were to add sugar to my cereal these days it would certainly be after the milk was added!

As long as I'm sharing treasures from Grandma's kitchen I'll share a couple that I don't remember from my childhood.

I have three of these little oriental bowls. I have no idea when Grandma got them or what she used them for. They came to me after Grandpa died. When we were going through everything I fell in love with them.


The toothpick holder and celery salter were given to me by my father after my step-mother died. I assume he hung on to them after Grandpa died and he wanted to make sure that they stayed in the family. I have never used them, they sit, vying for attention in my china cabinet.


This was written for the 3rd edition of the Canadian Genealogy Carnival: Around the Kitchen Table, to be hosted by Kathryn Lake Hogan at Looking4Ancestors. When I first saw the topic for this edition I was a little stumped as to what I'd write about. As I've already said, I never noticed any difference in the foods we ate at home or the food we were offered on our trips to Canada, perhaps because we live so close to the border. The dinners of my youth were mostly simple meat and potatoes fare and rarely were any spices other than salt and pepper added. My memories may not be uniquely Canadian but I enjoyed the trip down memory lane.

Wordless Wednesday - c. 1931

Harvey Gordon Berry, c. 1931

Digital image. Privately held by Apple, [address for private use]. 2009

Memories on Monday - Hospital Waiting Room

I had a good time at ScanFest yesterday. There was a nice mix of regulars and first timers. I think I set a new personal record for the number of scans I completed!


The picture above is one of the pictures from the batch I was working on. It was taken in the summer of 1968 in South Bend, IN. Mom had driven us west that summer to visit her family in northern Indiana and southern Michigan. The picture must have been taken by Aunt Ruby in her living room.

Aunt Ruby owned a two family house in South Bend and the upstairs apartment was rented out to Notre Dame students, so in the summer it was vacant and that is where we stayed. My trips to South Bend and Buchanan, MI as a child are all mixed up in my head. I know we visited Notre Dame, went swimming in Lake Michigan, visited Grandma in the nursing home and visited other family members but I don't recall what we did on which trip.

The one thing that I do remember about the trip in 1968 was that my sister took a tumble down the stairs from the apartment. I don't remember how or why she fell but I remember being frightened. Aunt Ruby must have been out because Mom put us all in the car and drove to the hospital. My brother and I were left to sit by ourselves in the waiting room while Mom went with our sister to be seen by the doctor.

They seemed to be gone forever and I remember sitting in the chair and blubbering away. There was an older woman there and she did her best to comfort me even though I'm certain she must have had worries of her own. I know my brother was there but I can't "see" him.

My sister had a concussion but was otherwise fine. I don't remember leaving the hospital or anything else for certain from that trip.

I know that lots of people have very clear memories of their childhoods. All I have are little bright flashes that seem to be all jumbled up.

Thomas David Berry

Thomas was born September 8, 1829 in Blockley, England. Blockley is located in the Cotswold’s, a rural area in the western part of the country.

He was born during the Victorian period in England. There were distinct and severe class differences during this period and his family would have been near the bottom in the Agricultural Laborours class. All members of the family would have had to work, the children from the age of about 9. They most likely lived in a rented, two or three room cottage as all the dwellings were owned by the "farm" and leased back to the workers. They would have had a very small home garden in which was grown primarily potatoes and cabbage, so as to discourage self reliance. Near Blockley it seems that the men and boys worked the farms and the women and girls worked in the silk mills. Adults worked 12 hour days and children 10 hours, six days a week. Thomas is listed on the 1861 census as a journeyman miller, a slight elevation in position; however in 1871 he is back to being listed as an agricultural labourer. It was extremely hard to move up in class status. The family probably earned enough for the basics but few luxuries. Historical accounts of Blockley indicate that the men often spent their money in the taverns and were persecuted by the district constable.

The family obviously had very little to loose by emigrating. During this period the English population was expanding at a rate that the country could not sustain. The population was increasing by over 200,000 per year. Emigration societies were organized to help workers leave England for Canada and other colonies. These societies raised monies to provide passage. I have not discovered which society sponsored the family’s travel but they arrived in Ottawa on the ship Prussian on 21 June 1874. Family oral history is that on landing in Canada, Thomas threw his friend "John Barleycorn" overboard and yelled, "We're through!"

The family initially settled in Fitzroy Harbor. In 1881 he was listed as a miller in Gloucester, Russell Co, Ontario. By 1901 they had moved to Ottawa and owned a five room house and he worked as a sexton. He died May 4, 1907 and is buried in Beechwood Cemetery.



This originally appeared at The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree on 31 March 2006. I have neglected my Berry line and I hope to expand on the family's story. My grandfather, Kimberly Berry, corresponded with a woman researching another branch of the Hollington family and he included what little he had heard of his grandfather, Thomas. Never having heard whiskey referred to as John Barelycorn, I initially thought he had thrown a person overboard!