Picture of Grandma Mc

This is one of my favorite pictures of Grandma Mc.  I got it from our sweet cousin Linda.  Thank you!!!  I just wanted to share with all of you.  It is wonderful!

10th great grandfather's Death Record

Want to see my latest find?!!  While I was at the RootsTech conference I took the time to spend a few hours at the Family History Library.  I have been working with a distant cousin to try and figure out a few things on Prudence Kime's line.  Her mother was Elizabeth Donnaby and we have her line back to the 1500's., but with a few missing pieces.  Well, I found John Donabie, my 10th great grandfather (9th great for some of you!) in a burial record for Firsby, Lincolnshire, England on microfilm.  Want to see the record?

These are the same record only that the second picture is a close look at his name.  See if you can find it!  He died on the 3rd of September 1616.  Enjoy!  

RootsTech and Ireland Records

Last weekend I went to the RootsTech genealogy conference in Salt Lake.  It was so much fun!  I learned lots of new things, but there is one I wanted to share with all of you.  I went to a class taught by find my past which is a website that works a lot like ancestry.com, but it focuses on records in the British Isles including Ireland.  The class they taught was about finding records in Ireland.  I always try to learn everything I can about Ireland in hopes that one day it will help me figure out our Gurley line and who Thomas' parents might be and especially what Jane's maiden name might be.  Anyway, in the class the teacher started talking a little about Donegal, the county that our ancestors came from.  Of course I listened very carefully to what he was saying.  He then said something that broke my heart.  He said that he didn't understand why anyone would want to live there.  It is beautiful country, but it rains so much that it is miserable.  He then said that not many records survived because of the humidity and moisture.  Everything rotted or molded and didn't survive.  Wow.  I am now trying to figure out what to do next.  Cross your fingers that sometime, somewhere, we will be able to figure this all out.

I found Grandpa Bennett!

Grandpa George Bennett was the father of Rebecca Bennett who married William Confar.  They daughter was Alice Confer who married Edward Hartshorn.  Their son was David Hartshorn who married grandma Vera Hurlbut.  Does that make sense?  So...we don't have much information on Grandpa Bennett or his wife Prudence Kime.  We know that he lived in Burnside, Clearfield, Pennsylvania at one point, but that is about it.  He is listed on a census record as being born in Pennsylvania.  But that is about all!  We didn't know when he was born, where he died or when.  After talking to a distant cousin, he told me that a family story that had been passed down suggested that he moved to Iowa and lived with one of his daughters.  Well, only two of his daughters lived in Iowa.  One was a daughter named Anna Belle and the other was our grandma, Rebecca.  Rebecca is buried in the Bellefountain cemetery in Mahaska County, Iowa.  So I took a chance and searched for her father in the cemetery and luck was on my side!  Here is a link to what I found:

Iowa Graves Project

After I found him in the Iowa WPA Graves Project, I thought I would see if he was on Find A Grave.  Sure enough, I found him!  Here is a link to his grave:

Find a Grave Memorial for George Bennett

So...slowly but surely we are uncovering a big mystery.  I have a lady at the Historical Society in Mahaska county doing some research for me to see what she can uncover about George while he was in Iowa.  Cross your fingers that she finds his Will!  She is also searching to see what she can find on the Confer's and Hartshorn's who were also in the area at that time.

First Families in Huron County, Ohio

I know it has been awhile since I last posted on the blog.  That doesn't mean I haven't been working hard on our family history!  In December I worked really hard to complete the application for the Huron County Genealogical Society to list our ancestors as among the first families in the area.  I found out a few weeks ago that the application was accepted and they are going to honor them at their banquet in April!  Oh how I wish I could go.  I'm still holding out hope!  Adrienne wants us to go together and so I am going to do everything I can to make it happen, but it is kind of a crazy time.

Henry and Almira (Jennings) Hurlbut were accepted as First Families in the area.  We have proof that Henry was in Norwalk as early as 1817!  They are my 4th great grandparents.

Thomas Gurley was accepted as an early settler in the area.  They wouldn't accept his wife Jane because they need her maiden name to accept her.  So...we really need to figure out her maiden name somehow!  Thomas was proven to be in the area as early as 1837.  Thomas and Jane are my 4th great grandparents.

I was a little surprised, but excited that they also except James Hurlbut and Marie Gurley as families in the area since they were born or lived a good amount of life there.  They also accepted Grandma Vera Matilda Hurlbut Hartshorn since she was born in Norwalk, Huron County, Ohio.

If I don't make it out there in April, I will take a picture of the certificate they send me and share it with all of you!  I am so excited!

Confer Home in Pennyslvania

William Confer was born in Pennsylvania where his family had lived for many years.  His father, John Confer, at one point owned some land where a home was built.  He stated in his will that after he died the property was to be sold and divided between his sons William and David Fulton.  William, as we know, took his family and moved away from Pennsylvania.  David stayed behind and at one point put the property up for sale stating he was moving west.  We assume he was moving west to be closer to his brother.  This never happened.  In fact, he never sold the property.  The property did change hands for a time, but David's great granddaughter, Beth, purchased the property and is currently living in the old home.  Pretty cool huh!  I have been talking to Beth and another of David's descendants named Justin who is David's 3rd great grandson.  Beth and Justin are 2 cousins 3 times removed.  They descended from two different children of David's.  Anyway, they sent me an old picture of David's family in front of the old homestead and then some current pictures of the home.  I thought you might like to see them!

These are some picture of the homestead today.  Some of the pictures are taken at the angle as the above pictures!

Our Wonderful Confer Ancestors

Did you wonder if I had forgot to put anything on here?  I have uncovered some fun information and hopefully I can share it all with you!  So... Alice Confer, my 3rd great grandmother, was the daughter of William Confar and Rebecca Bennett.  When Rebecca died in 1872 many of the other children were still pretty young.  Alice was the oldest child and married to Edward Hartshorn with their own family and living in Iowa.  In fact, Alice died only a few years after her mother died.  Alice's father, William, took several members of his family and moved to Missouri.  In the 1880 Census you find William married to an Eliza living Cass County, Missouri.  I haven't been able to determine if he married Eliza in Iowa before he left or if he married her in Missouri.  Some websites have Eliza listed as Eliza Tilletson and marrying William in 1874, but I have been unable to prove this bit of information.  Still searching!  Many of William's children married in Missouri and started families of their own.  By 1885 we find William and his son Louis living Archuleta County, Colorado.  I don't know for sure when he came to Colorado, or why, but in the 1885 Colorado Census he is living in a house with another man and his son Louis.  Some of the other children also came with their families to Colorado a little later and settled there.  William died in September of 1890 in Chromo, Archuleta County, Colorado.  By this time he had a homestead where he was living with a new wife, Nancy Webb, whom he had married just a few months before his death.  By law, much of his estate was left to his widow, Nancy, and the rest divided between his sons.  Well, his children, particularly Louis, was not happy with what Nancy inherited and decided to fight for it in court.  There are several court documents pertaining to this fight.  Here is a link to some of what was going on:  Confar vs. Confar .

I don't know any more about Nancy.  The only documentation on her is her marriage to William and the court documents between her and Louis.

About 10 years or so after William's death, many of the children decided to move to California where many of them lived the remainder of their lives.  These are our cousins!