World Cup Soccer and Great-Grandfathers

     Many Americans are getting ready to watch the World Cup soccer game between Germany and America.  I have been watching the World Cup games since Spain 1982.  That also explains why I haven't written many blog entries for the last few weeks.        
     This morning I was quite surprised to read the following statement by conservative columnist, Ann Coulter.  "I promise you: No American whose great-grandfather was born here is watching soccer."¹
     Well, I guess all my genealogical research has been for naught, because I thought all my great-grandparents were born in the United States of America.

   By the way, fourteen of my sixteen great-great grandparents were born in the USA also.  And Jayme's great-grandparents were born here also.  

Go, Go, USA!

I believe the we will win!  I believe the we will win! I believe the we will win! I believe the we will win! I believe the we will win!

1. "Coulter: Any growing interest in soccer a sign of nation's ..." 2014. 26 Jun. 2014 <http://www.clarionledger.com/story/opinion/columnists/2014/06/25/coulter-growing-interest-soccer-sign-nations-moral-decay/11372137/>

A Wedding Anniversary

       Above is an image of the marriage license for Francis Walker and Eliza Ann Simison¹.  It is dated 4 June 1855.  Since I had seen this image on an ancestry.com family tree and the marriage was listed as 4 June 1855, I recorded that date.  Recently, I located the same record on familysearch.org.  As I browsed through this book of marriage licenses on familysearch.org I noticed that next to this document is a statement that the marriage was executed on the same day.
       However, by going back to the first page in this book of marriages one can see that the date of execution of marriages are written on the following page.  The next page shows that Francis Walker and Eliza Ann Simison were married on 19 June 1855.    
     That is a good date.  It turns out that Jayme and I share the same wedding anniversary as Jayme's great-great-grandparents.   Eliza Ann and Francis were  married for 24 years when Francis passed away in Texas.  Jayme and I celebrated out 43rd anniversary this past week.

1.  "Alabama, Marriages, 1816-1957," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FQKS-CZQ : accessed 24 May 2014), Francis Walker and Eliza Ann Simerson, 19 Jun 1855; citing reference ; FHL microfilm 1294419  Book 14 Page 159.

Susannah Keeney, Keeny, Kenney, Keney, Kinny, Kinney

Susannah Wife of Chester 
died 8 Oct 1881, aged 83y 9m 4d

     Susannah Keeney was the wife of Chester Fox. They were married on May 18, 1817 in Manchester, Hartford County, Connecticut¹.   Various spellings of her surname include but are not limited to: Keeney, Keeny, Kenney, Keney, Kinny, Kinney, and Kinne. 

     The family moved west in 1836, settling in Jerome Township, Union County, Ohio.  

     Chester Fox passed away in 1863 and in the 1870 Census Susannah is living by herself and not with any of her nearby living children.  In the 1880 Census she has paralysis and is living with her sister, Mary Winget in nearby Delaware County².

     Who are Susannah's parents? Would her sister's records leave some clue?  By combing several records as well as a published history of Union County, we find that her sister Mary had married Martin Webster in Manchester, Connecticut¹ in 1824.  

     After also moving west to Union County, Martin passed away and Mary married Ezra Winget in 1858³.

     Mary Winget passed away in late 1880 and Susannah lived another year.  Who took care of Susannah during that year?  Was the paralysis permanent? 

     And then there is the question that I have to answer if I am to discover more about the Keeney family.  Who are the parents of Susannah and Mary?  At this time I haven't a clue, but that won't stop me from looking.

1. Ancestry.com. Connecticut, Church Record Abstracts, 1630-1920 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: 2013.  Original data: Connecticut. Church Records Index. Connecticut State Library, Hartford, Connecticut.
2. Year: 1880; Census Place: Ostrander, Delaware, Ohio; Roll: 1012; Family History Film: 1255012; Page: 291C; Enumeration District: 102; Image: 0082.
3."Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-1994." Index and images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : accessed 2014. Citing Probate Court.

Old Names versus New Names

     One website that I like to peruse occasionally is fivethirtyeight.com.  In my previous life I taught mathematics and this website gives me an insight into news and sports from a mathematical (statistical) point of view.  As I scanned through the articles one article caught my eye.  
     How to Tell Someone’s Age When All You Know Is Her Name 
     The article was interesting to me from a genealogical standpoint.  The authors discuss the median age of some young names and  some older names.  My sister's grandson is named Jadon (Jayden). The median age for people named Jayden is about four years old.  (50% of the boys with that name are younger than four.)  On the other end of the spectrum is my grandfather's name, Elmer.  The median age for people named Elmer is sixty-six.  
    In my family tree there women named, Beulah, Minnie, Mabel, and Agnes.  The median age for those names is at least seventy-five.  
    My granddaughter, Hailey, is fourteen and the median age for the name Hailey is thirteen.  
     The next time I go to my other granddaughter's soccer game I bet I hear the names that appear on the youngest name list: Ava, Ella, Isabella, Zoe. 
    Take a look at this graph¹ from the article.  Mabel was my grandmother's middle name.  And there is my grandfather's name at the top of the list for men.

1. "How to Tell Someone's Age When All You Know Is Her Name." 2014. 5 Jun. 2014 <http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-to-tell-someones-age-when-all-you-know-is-her-name/>