The Elysian Fields

HawkFest is up first - we went over to the trail head near Bake Oven Knob and talked with the good folks from the Wildlife Information Center. Justin and Rachel were able to handle a corn snake and a couple of turtles, as well as look at a number of other local critters, including a just-hatched-that-morning turtle. You could still see his bellybutton, which will disappear as he grows older.

Over the course of three hours, we sighted nearly a dozen osprey, almost half a dozen broadwings, a couple red tails and sharpies, and about forty or so turkey vultures.

We headed down to CelticFest, and, after looking everywhere else, finally tracked down the clans. Two were left, and only five or six had even shown up. They put them in an out-of-the-way low traffic spot, away from the music. With less people stopping by, and less of a chance to be in the middle of the festival, you can't really blame them. I'm not sure Clan Riddell would have been represented under the best of circumstances - they don't seem to be as active as some and they only show up on a few of the many clan listings.

I also stopped by The Harp and the Dragon and discussed Uilleann pipes - downright affordable at only $1675 for a full set. And yes, one of the things that I discussed with Ann was that it's best to start with a starter set and then add the drones and regulators. And, if I ever happen to get good at them, I can always get a set from Seth Gallagher (for comparison, the starter set can cost more than $1825... =) Ann had mentioned used sets - mostly from people who ordered the half or full set and then gave up learning to play it because they didn't start simple - but I wasn't able to find mention of it on their site. As these are bellows-powered, I would have no problem considering a well-priced used starter set or more, if it was really well priced - I would just remove the extra stuff until I became somewhat competent. Although I suspected, just from looking at it, I made sure I verified that there is no correspondence between the chanter of the uilleann pipes and the chanter of the highland pipes (which I will be picking up when I go to MA this coming weekend.) Learning one won't help much with the other, except, I suppose, on the basic level of putting your finger over a hole or releasing it and having that change the sound.

As we didn't get much information about the clans, we did try several of the heraldry vendors, only to find the same canned information. They really can't provide anything more specific for the $10-40 they offer products for. I'm starting to recognize the language used, about how they imply much without providing specifics - The Warren Family book we have consists mostly of that sort of thing. It's kind of sad - I kept looking at it (as I have done in the past,) hoping it would reveal some Great Secret but knowing that it was too generic and too vague to do anything. For that, it takes going through census records, marriage records, and so forth. Anyway, because of that it wasn't much of a disappointment - expectations were not very high, and they were met.

...in the stacks of some obscure books shop...

...especially considering such places are, themselves, hardly obscure to those on my FL or wider readership... =)

• Some descendants of Arthur Warren of Weymouth, Massachusetts Bay Colony by Warren Woden Foster; New England Historic Genealogical Society (January 1, 1998); ASIN: B0006R3ZCW - as I am growing more confident by the minute that I am, in fact, a direct ancestor of said Arthur Warren, this is the most useful title of the three
• The story of the Bloods,: Including an account of the early generations of the family in America in genealogical lines from Robert Blood of Concord and Richard Blood of Groton by Roger Deane Harris; Priv. print., G.K. Hall (January 1, 1960); ASIN: B0007DTAFQ - on account that said direct lineage to Arthur Warren involves a grandmother in the Blood family, this is of only slightly less importance
• The Warren family: Ancestors and descendants of Moses Warren of Warrensville, Ohio from John Warren of Watertown, Massachusetts with allied families (Unknown Binding) by Allene Beaumont Duty; Xerox Reproduction Center; 1st ed edition (1984); ASIN: B0006EIL4C - this one is only of value as a curiousity, at least at this point; sadly, out of the three, it is the only one that can be found on Amazon.com; doubly sadly, at $150, it's not a quick pick

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On a related note (harrumph!) there is a very definite coat of arms used by Arthur Warren - and some how Dr. Warren (of kicking-Revere's-horse-off-on-a-sartain-ride fame; not to mention starring in a number of Liberty's Kids episodes, and, along the way, starting some goofy school for other doctors - Harvard Medical School, I think, not that anyone will have heard of it...) wound up with the seal on a ring; as of this moment that's the only implication that there may be a relation there. That - The Doctors Warren of Boston: First Family of Surgery - is one book I *do* have, so we'll see what happens once I read up on it.

Anyway, I'll probably be looking into the heraldry there and maybe that of some of the other families - be curious to see what the Clan Riddle (ETA: which would be here) has and all.

We're approaching 3000 names in the ol' family tree.

We had a puzzle trying to figure out the Riddles - quite a few curious doings, and the same people appear as grandparents in multiple generations. We finally figured it out, and did get back to Germany, with the Ghosts, Hoffmans, and Huffmans. The Riddles themselves actually came from Scotland, which was a surprise. I must have missed that when I looked over the list quickly, as I told John @ Poetry that I didn't have any family in Scotland.

Matthew Riddle was born in Scotland, then came to Pennsylvania. He served in the Revolutionary War as an aide to George Washington. I've got an article where the DAR did a presentation of an additional monument at his gravesite. His son - my direct ancestor's brother - served with Commodore Perry on Lake Erie.

We also - for fun - took the White --> Bowen line back 49 generations. I think we're missing some in there, because that allegedly takes us back to 100 BC, when I come up with a 3 generations per 100 years guesstimate of somewhere in the third century AD being much more reasonable for that many generations. Definitely through to the Welsh, with a large quantity of w's and y's and l's stuffed into most of the names, except for the occasional Owen that pops in here and there. There's even a propensity for music in the family line - we have both a Prince Bard and a Bard Prince.

Still only a portion of names that I've seen have been entered.

I've also picked up a book on the Doctors Warren of Boston: First Family of Surgery. The trees they show inside the covers leave a lot of openings - many places listing "7 other children" or something like that - but I'm still fairly sure that if there's any relation, it happened in England prior to them heading over to fair Amerikay. After I've exhausted all my current supply of information, and in lulls from hunting down actual ancestors, I'll probably explore a few of the other Warren families just for the historical interest - the good Doctors include the founders of Harvard's medical school, sending some guy named Revere off on a ride, and dying at Bunker Hill, amongst other things; the Watertown Warrens have an interest because that's my hometown; and Richard Warren came over on the Mayflower, and that's another point of interest.

Much, much more to do.

Well, I've still just got a toe in the water, entering in all the data from my dad's collection and from Duffy's document, but I'm already trying to probe the Great Mystery for me - and that's to follow the Warren surname back a lot further than the late 1700s where I'm currently stuck.

( Mysteries, Mercy, and Watertown Warrens... )

Gah. Where's a time machine when you need one? Probably all stuck in a traffic jam at some really cool moment.

At least I still have my 23 generation descent which takes me back into Merrie Auld England (posted this past Sunday, for those who don't read LJ on weekends.) And that doesn't even touch the White --> Bowen family line, which lists a Bryn Myr, King of the Britons as the first descendant. Okay, it doesn't quite, I'm being a bit silly. His name was actually Beli Mawr, King of Britain, 100 BC.

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In other news, and by way of explanation of the mood, I had a close encounter with a beautiful red tailed hawk this morning - she flew alongside me, making eye contact all the way along the fields, until the tree line approached, and then she cut behind me and soared nearly straight up into the air. Part of me flew up into the sky with her, the other part showed up here at work and wrote a poem about it. =)

Turns out Sir Richard Ingoldsby wasn't in the Wight line - nope, my 10(Great) Grandfather Ingoldsby had a 5(Great) Granddaughter Inglesbe who married my Thrice Great Grandfather Warren. It remains to be seen whether Sir Richard is the Sir Richard of The Ingoldsby Legends fame. Certainly, Thomas Ingoldsby, the writer of said poetry, is of no relation to anyone except Sudy Nimh. Well, that and the Barham clan, but if they're in my tree, I haven't found it yet. Of course, Sir Richard might also be *that* Sir Richard Ingoldsby, but I don't know - and at 1617-1685 that would put him at 4 years old when my 9(Great) Grandfather John Ingoldsby was born. The dates could be wonky, or, more likely, they're different Sir Richards.

Also turns out that there were three Inglesbe generations - the first of which was an Ebenezer - and there were three generations of Ebenezer Ingoldsbys preceeding him. In between the last Ebenezer and Sarah, there's an Elijah so they kept up with that theme.

Philip Ghost McFadden (1833-1919) was the inspiration for Brandon's middle name, although I knew nothing about Rachel Bates White and Rachael Kendal Bailey when we named Rachel - her 7(Great) and 4(Great) Grandmothers.

Although we have a lot of variety - and oddities - in the Riddle line, I haven't come across a Tom. Yet. Of course, I've got a whole subsection of them that I haven't linked in to the tree yet. They're technically unrelated until I figure out where they get plugged in. Anyway, as a catalogue of names that just might have once been in fashion I give you:

Great Grandmother Alcy Mae Riddle McFadden
As-yet-Unrelated Benonia Grant Riddle and his wife Mary Jane Poingle
Ditto for Damie Anne Riddle Phipps
Alcy Mae's sister, Edna Elvena Riddle Moyer
Another unrelated-at-the-moment Erastus Leyburn Riddle
Twice Great Grandfather George Washington Riddle
-and my favorite-
Twin Boy to Earl Riddle (who is not, at the present time, related)

Of course, there's also a boatload of Franks, Harrys, Josephs, Ralphs, Roberts, Matthews, Marys, Sarahs, and John Alphonse Riddles mixed in there.

George Allen Sr, with a birthyear of 1568 ties generationally with Sir Richard, but he's the only one with a date on him. Curiously, both his wife and his son also have good birthdates, and I was warned that Katherine was 37 years younger than Sr. and of the ripe old age of 14 when Jr. was born. I think they had different rules for that sort of thing back in the 1500s.

That said, there's probably a missing spouse and a first marriage in the one we found who appeared to give birth to her daughter at 8 - and that's just a wee bit young. Most likely an error in the records.

Oh, another correction from yesterday, possibly: Yorkshire, England, not York.

Anywho, 353 relations, currently, and we're only half-way through the one document we're working on, and still have quite a few folders, each with quite a few documents, remaining.