W.I.S.E. words The Newsletter of W.I.S.E. Family History Society

Wales – Ireland – Scotland -

Volume 20, Number 1 Denver, Colorado January, February, March 2019

They Came, They Researched, They Found —Tracy Evanko et al Fourteen enthusiastic W.I.S.E. people, armed with documents, pens, passwords (and caffeine), descended on Salt Lake City early in October for the annual takeover of the Carlton Hotel where plans of research attack were discussed at the daily complimentary breakfast briefing. “Have you looked at the newspaper archives?” asked one participant. “There’s a professional genealogist service available for your tough questions . . . and it’s free-of-charge,” shared our leader. “There’s a snack room on the first floor,” advised another who had already been in the trenches. The group gathered on the first day, took a deep breath, and marched together to the Family History Center. Even though the resources pictured at right seemed intimidating, as they crossed the entry threshold they discovered that the locals were . . . friendly and welcoming and the resources not so intimidating after all. Several couples joined forces and divided the print and digital tasks, which included books, microfilms, maps, and databases. During a week of reconnaissance, many brick walls were demolished and success stories shared. Winding down the campaign at the end of the week, members gathered again at breakfast to de-brief after a strenuous but rewarding six days in the field: “I confirmed where my ancestor lived!” “We found that land document!” “This is the name of the ship my family came over on!” Every breakthrough was One aisle of microfilm cabinets at the Family History Library loudly celebrated. (2017 Photo by Bill Tracy) Such a sense of camaraderie and accomplishment! Maybe you’d like to join up next year. Continued on Page 4

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W.I.S.E. Family History Society Contents W.I.S.E. Family History Society is dedicated to research in Wales, Ireland, Scotland, England, They Came, They Researched, They Found ...... 1 the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. Treasurer’s Report ...... 2 Attention is also directed to the emigration and Membership Report ...... 2 immigration of these peoples as well as heraldry and one-name studies. Monthly meetings are President’s Message ...... 3 generally held the fourth Saturday of most From the Editor ...... 3 months at the Central Denver Public Library, 7th Dues are Due ...... 4 Floor. Membership is open to anyone with Sharpen Your Ireland Research Skills at Upcoming interest in family history and genealogy. W.I.S.E. Seminar ...... 7 Membership dues for the calendar year are $15 for an individual or $20 for a family living at the 2018 Annual Seminar Recap ...... 8 same address. The W.I.S.E. Family History W.I.S.E. Annual Holiday Program & Treat Share ..... 9 Society publishes W.I.S.E. Words four times per Celtic Wedding Traditions ...... 9 year, and a subscription is included with membership dues. Add $5 to the dues if you want 17th Century New England Scottish POWs ...... 10 a black and white printed copy of the newsletter Family History Hiding in Plain Sight ...... 12 mailed to you. Blarney Castle and the Stone of Eloquence ...... 13 © 2000-2019, W.I.S.E. Family History Society, Roanoke: Lost but Never Forgotten...... 14 P.O. Box 40658, Denver, CO 80204-0658 Author Zoe Lappin Wins Award ...... 16 All rights reserved. Love Letters from Welsh Poet Dylan Thomas ...... 16 Visit our website at www.wise-fhs.org. W.I.S.E. Program Schedule ...... 18

Officers and Board Members Treasurer’s Report President ...... Sylvia Tracy-Doolos (December 2018) [email protected] —Bruce Haefner Vice President/Program Chair ...... Sandy Ronayne Secretary ...... Marilyn Edwards-Roberts Checking & savings balance as Treasurer ...... Bruce Haefner of 31 August 2018 $5,503.38 Membership Coordinator ...... Suzann Smith Petty Cash 50.00 Members’ Interests Coordinator ...... Vacant Cash Balance $5,553.38 Publicity Coordinator ...... Diana Copsey Archivist ...... Marcia Kehl Deposits Cleared 3,300.49 CCGS Delegate ...... Bill Hughes Checks/Debits Cleared (3,655.38) Hospitality Coordinator ...... Vacant Cash Balance at 31 December 2018 $5,198.49 Interim Webmaster ...... Sandra Keifer-Roberts Member-at-Large ...... Sandy Breed Membership Report

We welcome those who joined the W.I.S.E. Newsletter Staff Family History Society recently: Newsletter Editor ...... Mary Anne Larson September: K. Sue Anderson, Karen ...... [email protected] Largent, Ann Lisa Pearson, Carolyn Assistant Newsletter Editor ...... Sandra Keifer-Roberts Thomson, Christine Woodcock Book Review Editor ...... Zoe von Ende Lappin Proofreader ...... Bruce Haefner November: Jeanni Higby, Janet Thornber, Wales Editor...... Nancy McCurdy William Threlfall Ireland Editor ...... Thyria Wilson Scotland Editor ...... Diane Barbour December: Joanne Blair England Editor ...... Vacant Welcome to W.I.S.E.!

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President’s Message I am pleased and humbled to be following in the footsteps of the many dedicated Presidents who have come before me. Serving as President for the past year, to complete Allan Turner’s term, has given me time to understand where our members’ interests are and which direction they would like W.I.S.E. leadership to go. We have an amazing board filled with passionate and dedicated members who have skills and strengths they are willing to apply to W.I.S.E.’s success, and I am so thankful for them. We have a few openings on the board, and a few other coordinator positions that might fit your unique talents. Please consider speaking with any member of the Board of Directors if you would like to help W.I.S.E. thrive in 2019 and into the future. 2018 was a good year for W.I.S.E. We had a presence at five Colorado festivals, including the Colorado Tartan Day and St. Brigit’s Celtic Festivals hosted by Mary Larson and Chris Roger. Thank you, Mary and Chris! We also continued our tradition at the Colorado Irish Festival, hosted by Bill Hughes who we all owe thanks to for his years of service at this event. The Colorado Scottish Festival and the Rocky Mountain Irish Gathering were events that we added to our schedule and we should thank Bruce Haefner, Marilyn Edwards-Roberts, and all the W.I.S.E. volunteers who made all these events a success. W.I.S.E. purchased an impressive list of books for the Genealogy section of the Denver Public Library (DPL), so all our members can take advantage of them. I was disappointed we couldn’t resolve issues related to bringing FindMyPast.com to DPL for the benefit of our members, but we are using those funds to purchase other resources. W.I.S.E. has been purchasing books for the library since 2004 and we are always looking for book suggestions from our members, so please speak up if you have an idea. Linguistics Column Debut - Those who know me can tell you of my interest in the role language plays in family history research. Given that, I decided to add an article to W.I.S.E. Words on linguistics. Finding the Sylvia debuts a linguistics right name caused me some consternation, but I finally decided on column in this issue “Forþfæderas Sprǣċ”. While this may look like a foreign language it is actually at the heart of what we refer to as English. It is the Old English way of saying “Ancestor Speech.” Forþfæderas is “Forefathers” which refers to all ancestors, not just the males. The character “þ” is named “thorn” and makes a “th” sound and is similar to another character “ð” called “eth.” Thorn can be heard in the word “them” while eth is heard in “thing.” It may not be easy to recognize the difference between the two in American speech, but the “th” in thing slips off your tongue more easily. Similarly, the “æ,” or “ash” as it is called, makes the sound we recognize in the “a” of “hand.” If you are familiar with the German “sprechen” you’ll recognize the similarity to “sprǣċ” that can mean both “speak” or “speech.” Old English (OE) is a Germanic language so many of our words are similar to German, but Modern English (ME) is as far removed from Old English as modern German is miles away from its 11th century root language. When you think about the language of your Welsh, Irish, Scottish, or English progenitors, as you read my column, you will begin to see and hear the similarities and differences found in the English we speak. My goal is to broadly explain the language changes through time in Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and England, so we can better research our ancestor’s lives. Questions are encouraged so I can improve future articles. In the next separate article, I’ll explore the role the Norman Invasion played in the English language our forefathers spoke, and that we continue to speak. Sylvia Tracy-Doolos From the Editor I hope you all enjoyed the holidays as much as our household did. With competing work and family obligations, this issue is a bit late. Work and family come first at this stage in my life, and it turned into a wonderful holiday season. Part of the time was spent observing two nine-month-old kittens joyfully rearranging the

www.wise-fhs.org W.I.S.E. Words 4 January, February, March 2019 decorations on my once carefully (evenly) decorated Christmas tree before dashing around the house on a dead run when caught in the act. Perhaps next year the decorations won’t provide quite so much temptation. That did take the sting out of missing my parents and other family members who are no longer with us, though. This issue contains material that can hopefully spark your research in 2019. I was very pleasantly surprised when our August seminar speaker, Christine Woodcock, submitted an article on Celtic wedding traditions. Did you know that ‘hen parties’ once involved actual hens? John Putnam has written about a source for Scottish genealogy research, which could prove of value to some of our Scottish researchers. Nancy McCurdy has prepared us for Valentine’s Day with a quite romantic view of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, and Thyria Wilson’s article prepares us for upcoming St. Patrick’s Day celebrations with her account of kissing the Blarney Stone. Stay tuned in the next issue for an upcoming article from Diane Barbour on the inhabitants of St. Kilda off the west coast of Scotland. I’d love to hear of any breakthroughs that result from the content of this issue, and I hope you enjoy this issue and the modified format. Volume 20 seemed to provide the perfect opportunity for a formatting update in light of the fact that many now read W.I.S.E. Words on electronic devices without consulting a printed copy. Please provide your input, whether it’s emailing me at [email protected] or chatting with me at the next meeting. Mary Larson

Dues are Due It’s time now to renew your membership! As announced in December’s emails, dues have increased a bit: an individual membership is now $15.00 per year, and a family membership is now $20.00 per year. You can renew online at https://www.wise-fhs.org/shop/, and you can also renew at the 26 January 2019 meeting. The last documented increase occurred in 2005 or prior as reflected in Volume 6, Issue No. 2 of W.I.S.E. Words.

They Came, They Researched, They Found Continued from Page 1 Debbie and Terry Boucher: This year's trip to Salt Lake's Family History Library was the fourth consecutive for Debbie & me; yet another "vacation" opportunity to get away for a week and learn more about our great grandparents. I was able to update many family tree details and discovered my 4X great-grandfather was James Cassidy of Pennsylvania. Debbie discovered some links to past presidents like Abraham Lincoln, Terry Boucher (right) with while I seem to have none. a greeter at the FHL Sandy Breed: My first goal on my fourth trip to the Family History Library was to see if I could learn more about my 3X great- Debbie Boucher grandfather, William Crawford. Through land records in Morgan County, Illinois, I was able to add a middle initial P which helped differentiate him from two other William Crawfords in the same county. My biggest surprise was finding that he made a cash purchase of land from the federal government (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov) then turned around and on the following day sold the entire 80 acres. (That mystery continues with even more questions to answer.) The second main goal was to find out more about my elusive Turnbull ancestors in Dunbartonshire, Scotland. With the help of two very Sandy Breed

www.wise-fhs.org W.I.S.E. Words 5 January, February, March 2019 knowledgeable volunteers I determined that this family left the Church of Scotland prior to the requirement of civil registrations and will now tackle this family using other resources. It was a successful week of undisturbed research time to find many treasured pieces of family history. Basil Carpenter: My brother had already filled in a lot of my family tree, so I decided to focus on my father’s maternal line, the one line he had not taken very far back. I also had some handwritten family histories that I wanted to verify with primary source documents. I was able to do both during my week at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Using the Fold3 database, I verified that my 5X great grandfather, John Armstrong, served with George Washington in the Revolutionary War—even the experienced volunteer who assisted me got excited about that. Fold3 also helped me to find four bounty land warrants earned by my 3X great-grandfather, John Brown, for serving in the War of 1812. That land was in Hancock County, Illinois, the same county Basil Carpenter where the Mormons began their migration to Utah. Nyla Cartwright: It’s always exciting to find new information for an ancestor. When I was with the W.I.S.E. group at the Family History Library about two years ago I asked for help finding the birth record for my German–born 3X great-grandfather, Hans Stohbehn. Hans and his family arrived in the Port of New Orleans in 1851 and listed their previous residence as Emkendorf, Holstein. A helper at the Family Search Center gave me the information needed to send my request for a birth record, but the parish in Emkendorf was not able to locate any records. I asked for assistance again on this trip to Salt Lake. Barbara Bell, one of the German experts, quickly found the family in the 1845 German census living in Emkendorf, but the census records showed the family was not born there, but in Neuhaus, some 65 miles southwest of Emkendorf. Also listed was the Nyla Cartwright maiden name of Hans’ wife, which I had not previously known. Barbara found the mailing address and the email address of the parish to request the record I wanted, and hopefully I will soon have it in hand. Tracy Evanko: One of the best parts of the annual research trip to Salt Lake City is spending time with fellow W.I.S.E. members who understand the joys and frustrations of piecing together our genealogical puzzles. Conversation about everyone’s progress is rich with interesting stories and information and can lead to unexplored resources, which on this trip led me on a path to a huge success. Looking at old newspaper articles available on one of the online subscription databases (free at the Family History Library), I found an article that led me to my 2X great-grandfather, something I’ve been working to find for four years. Finding that piece was the highlight of the trip for me!

Bruce Haefner: My first trip to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City was an Tracy Evanko enlightening experience. With the help of several volunteers, I learned more about FamilySearch: attaching sources from hints; detaching invalid sources; merging duplicate records; adding gallery memories; and carefully documenting everything. One of my favorite sources of information was Newspaper Archive; I found articles from my parents’ and grandparents’ hometown newspapers that filled in many missing details. The best was a society article about a 1920 birthday party attended by my maternal grandfather Elmer Granke and grandmother Mildred Edwards, two years before they were married—perhaps it was where they met! I also looked at German christening Bruce Haefner and burial records to distinguish between the two wives of my 3X great

www.wise-fhs.org W.I.S.E. Words 6 January, February, March 2019 grandfather Carl Buchda. My biggest breakthrough was with my 3X great grandfather William Edwards—I knew he was born in England around 1805 but not much else; I found census records from 1841 and 1851 (in England) and 1860 (in the United States) and passenger lists from 1851 and 1859 that helped to explain how the family came to the United States and settled in Wisconsin. But every breakthrough raises new questions, so I have a lot more research to do! Pat Hornsby Jakel: The Salt Lake trip is always informative and fun. Hearing of others finding information on their families is encouraging. I didn’t find what I was looking for this time but got help on how to determine which Pat Hornsby Jakel Elizabeth ‘Smith’ is mine. It’s going to take some time doing this—maybe a winter day undertaking. After looking at over 35,000 German immigrants to Philadelphia, I may have found when my Valentine Hart came to America, so that was a positive. Since I wasn’t planning on going this year I wasn’t prepared as well as I should have been. It is very important to organize and know what you want to accomplish before you go. It is always great to meet new “searchers” and have dinner together, and the trip gave me hope I’ll eventually break down my brick walls. Judy and Bruce McRae: Even though Bruce and I have Scottish and English blood respectively, we went to Salt Lake City with the primary purpose of obtaining a breakthrough on my German Krieger ancestry. All of our U.S. records just listed Bavaria as the birthplace of my ancestors who emigrated to Ohio in 1839. The first two days at the Family History Library were discouraging. Without the village name and with the limited German records available, the prospect of a breakthrough looked dim. I had sat with all the German experts and they said that 90% of the time, the breakthrough comes through a clue in the U.S. records. Then the top German expert sat with me and showed me some of her German resources. The first she gave me was the name of a man who had indexed over 150,000 Germans who emigrated to other countries. Early Wednesday morning I emailed him and within hours he emailed back that he believed he had found my ancestor! A Georg Krieger had posted his intent to emigrate in his local gazette in 1839! I then had to wait almost a week until a researcher could go into the Wurzburg archives to ascertain if this was my ancestor. It turns out it was—and now we have the birth records of all the children and the marriage Judy and Bruce McRae record and parents of my ancestors Georg and Margarethe Krieger! Though initially discouraged in our search, we found the needle in the haystack through emailing a man in Germany and we can now pursue this lineage back as far as it can go! Kay Quinlan: At our last meal in Salt Lake, Judy McRae mentioned a show I might like called “Fake or Fortune” about masterpiece artworks. Lo and behold I do like it, Judy! In one episode, a woman spends months and months with a microscope and scalpel chipping away micron-sized pieces of eighteenth- century paint to reveal underneath a seventeenth century masterpiece by van Dyck that had been lost to the ages and reproduced badly—and often—up until that point. Such is genealogy. You chip away—slowly finding little bits of information, trying to reveal the masterpiece that is your ancestor's story. I'm not sure that Mom and I found anything substantial, we are still wading through all of data we were able to collect, but I know we learned how to use our microscope and scalpel! Spending six days in a library may sound like an unusual vacation to some; I, for one, Kay and Shirley Quinlan

www.wise-fhs.org W.I.S.E. Words 7 January, February, March 2019 often wonder what it would be like to do this for a living. I am so glad to have spent the time with my mother, sharing this passion of ours. What made it even better was sharing the experience with our W.I.S.E. group, a wonderful, diverse group, full of knowledge, kindness and humor. I hope that Mom and I can make this trip again with W.I.S.E., it was truly a pleasure! Shirley Quinlan: My daughter and I made our first trip to Salt Lake with the W.I.S.E. group of 14. It was an amazing experience and, certainly one we hope to share again. The LDS Family History Library is something to behold on its own. Amazing! Overwhelming! Filled with histories of the past inviting you to find them. Many of the group would gather for a delicious, home-cooked breakfast every morning and share experiences of the day before. Those who had been there before offered suggestions to help in going about finding records. It was a pleasure meeting and having a chance to get to know people with the same passion. Many, many good stories and much laughter were shared. We are looking forward to going back with the group. Our leader, Sandy Breed, was delightful, helpful, and fun. Gary Stretesky: This has been a busy year for me, and I did not prepare a research plan for the Family History Library. To my surprise, I solved a question I have pondered for the last ten years: “How did my 3X grandfather get from New York City to Racine, Wisconsin, when he came to the United States?”. The family story was that he came by train, but I discovered the train tracks hadn’t yet been laid. A sentence in an obituary I found in the Family History Library stated he came “by way of Milwaukee.” At that time, Racine did not have a place to dock ships, but Milwaukee did. The answer: By ship! I also discovered the exact location of a great-grandfather's farm on a map of Nebraska. And who knew that Grandad made whiskey! He was caught with 10 gallons of 100 proof whiskey Gary Stretesky and sentenced to ten days in jail in 1924. (He claimed he found it—I guess they didn't believe him.) I thoroughly enjoyed the week and found many references to my family which were hurriedly copied to take home and research at a later date. Lola Stretesky: October 2018 was my third visit to the Family History Library with the W.I.S.E. Group. One of the highlights of my visit this year was the new “Interactive Discovery Experiences Center” on the main floor where technology provides visitors an opportunity for interesting interactions with their family trees on FamilySearch.org. I was given a special iPad to use at various stations. One of the stations Gary and I enjoyed together was called the “green screen,” which provides various backgrounds for photos. We had fun taking Lola Stretesky pictures, and going to Salt Lake City with W.I.S.E. folks is always a treat. Editor’s Note: As you can tell from these stories, a trip to Salt Lake City with W.I.S.E. can be the key to demolishing your brick walls. It’s fun and very worthwhile.

Sharpen Your Ireland Research Skills at Upcoming W.I.S.E. Seminar —Zoe von Ende Lappin W.I.S.E. members and friends who are chasing their Irish and Scots-Irish ancestors will be able to pick up the pace thanks to a pair of experts from Northern Ireland at the all-day seminar sponsored by W.I.S.E., just in time for St. Patrick’s Day.

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“Tracing Your Irish and Scots-Irish Ancestors,” will be held Saturday, 16 March 2019, at the downtown Denver Public Library (DPL), from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The speakers will be Fintan Mullan and Gillian Hunt of the Ulster Historical Foundation in Belfast, who also presented a W.I.S.E. seminar in 2014. Their four programs will be for both beginners and experienced family historians. The Ulster Historical Foundation is one of the leading genealogical research organizations in the United Kingdom and Ireland and W.I.S.E. Annual Seminar: emphasizes—but isn’t limited to—the nine historic counties of Ulster. “Tracing Your Irish and Fintan is the foundation’s executive director and Gillian is a research Scots-Irish Ancestors” officer with emphasis on genealogy. Saturday, 16 March 2019 Their topics will be: ● Introduction to Irish and Scots-Irish family history research ● Understanding Irish townlands: the importance of place, identity and administrative divisions ● Using land records: Griffith’s Valuation, tithe and estate records ● Census substitutes and other important sources for the 18th century Following the final presentation, Fintan and Gillian will do a 30-minute question and answer session that may include online database lookups. They’ll also be available during the lunch break. You can bring- your-own lunch to the site of the program, the Lower Level Conference Center at DPL, West 14th Avenue and Broadway. In addition, W.I.S.E. plans a free program the previous day, Friday, 15 March 2019, at the library but without Fintan and Gillian, who will be flying to Denver from Salt Lake City that day. Denver will be the eighth of ten stops on their annual North American Tour. Materials fee for the seminar is $40 per person. To register, see the registration form as part of this newsletter or go online to the W.I.S.E. website, www.wise-fhs.org. Click on the SHOP tab. There are three payment options, PayPal, credit card or personal check. The registration form also is on the website. Please direct questions to W.I.S.E. president Sylvia Tracy-Doolos at [email protected] or to program chair Sandy Ronayne at [email protected].

2018 Annual Seminar Recap —Mary Larson W.I.S.E.’s annual seminar held 15 September 2018 featured speaker Christine Woodcock, an entertaining and knowledgeable speaker on Scottish genealogy. Christine took the audience through basics and on through a variety of less well- known sources, offering tips and sage advice throughout all parts of her presentation. Humor kept the participants involved during the day. Those in the early stages of their Scottish research were educated about such well-known sources as ScotlandsPeople (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk), while participants who had Christine Woodcock already mined those resources acquired new information about less familiar resources that could potentially break down many brick walls and enable them to “cross the pond.” Christine offers genealogy tours to Scotland (https://www.genealogytoursofscotland.ca), webinars and an annual virtual conference which will be held 26 January 2019 (https://www.genealogyvic.com/). She will also be leading the Scottish portion of the annual International Society for British Genealogy and Family History (ISBGFH) British Institute in October 2019.

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W.I.S.E. Annual Holiday Program & Treat Share —Mary Larson Many W.I.S.E. members enjoyed the annual meeting held Saturday, 1 December 2018, tasting some wonderful delicacies brought by the members. The day’s festivities began with the election of President Sylvia Tracy-Doolos to her first complete term as President, and Bruce Haefner’s election to his second term as Treasurer. The members also contemplated modifications to W.I.S.E.’s bylaws (https://www.wise-fhs.org/about/bylaws/) and celebrated our 35th Anniversary. Hospitality Coordinator Debbie Boucher laid a lavish, beautiful, table, organizing the delectable treats in an impressive array, which some sampled as soon as the table was laid. Treats ranged from homemade shortbread and Scottish eggs to traditional tea sandwiches. Annie Chambers presented a Tea, educating members about the types of tea, preparation, and customs. A glance around the room showed members carefully listening with many “ah ha” expressions on their faces. Annie also presented tidbits on the historical significance and value of tea. In the 1700s tea was valued highly enough to be locked away in most homes, which brings new meaning and significance to the James Jeffrey and Annie Chambers act of dumping entire chests of it into Boston Harbor. Celtic Wedding Traditions —Christine Woodcock eltic heritage is rife with traditions and customs. Let's have a look at some of the traditions and C customs associated with wedding celebrations as well as the meaning behind some of these rituals. The lovespoon, which is primarily Welsh in origin, is a carefully crafted spoon, made of wood, that a young man might give to his love interest when he is first seeking her courtship. The carving was a display of affection to the lady of interest but was also to show her father that the suitor possessed the woodworking skills necessary to be able to provide for his wife and family. The luckenbooth brooch is a Scottish love token, often made of silver and sometimes engraved or encrusted with glass and crystals. The brooch was exchanged by a couple when they became engaged, symbolising their promise to marry. The brooch has two hearts intertwined with a crown on top and got its name from the luckenbooths where silversmiths and jewellers plied their trade. These were on the High Street near St Giles Church in Edinburgh. A Luckenbooth The wedding sark was the gift of a shirt that the bride gave her groom. In return, the Brooch groom paid for the bride’s wedding dress. Many brides-to-be still have what are known as hen parties, but did you know that the tradition behind this actually involved hens? All of the women in the village would gather together the day before the wedding and pluck enough hens to feed everyone attending the wedding the next day. Each woman would then take a plucked and gutted hen home to cook for the wedding meal. A fun tradition that is sometimes still enjoyed on stag nights is that of blackenings. This involves the groom being captured by his friends and stripped of his shirt before being tied up and ‘blackened’ using ash, soot, treacle, flour and feathers! As if that were not bad enough, the groom is then subjected to further embarrassment by being paraded around the town accompanied by his friends making as much noise as possible, to draw attention to him!

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Footwashing: either the night before the wedding or the morning of, the bride would be seated on a chair while an older, married woman washed and dried her feet. This was meant to symbolise a fresh start and to bring good fortune upon the couple. There are also many traditions built into the wedding day itself. A sixpence hidden in the bride’s shoe was meant to bring good luck and is a tradition that is still practiced today. In the Scottish borders, a sprig of white heather in the bride’s bouquet also symbolised the same. In Ireland, a sprig of shamrock was added to the bride's bouquet for luck. As the bride and her father left for the church, the father of the bride would throw a handful of coins into the street for the children of the village to collect. This was known as a scramble. In Ireland, coins would be tossed in place of confetti as a wish of wealth and good fortune for the newly married couple. Another Celtic wedding custom is for a young child to hand the bride a horseshoe as she enters the church. In some Celtic places, the horseshoe is incorporated into the bridal bouquet or even sewn into the bride's gown. This is to bring her good luck in her marriage. (The horseshoe is to be kept in the upright position to keep the good luck in.) Much has been made of the revival of the custom of handfasting. It is often said that this handfasting is for a year and a day. However, historically, handfasting tended to take place in outer regions, like the Scottish Highlands or Islands where a minister might not be readily available. In this circumstance, handfasting was used as a means of temporary betrothal until a minister could make his way to the area to perform the actual religious ceremony. In a handfasting ceremony, the hands of both the bride and the groom are joined just as we see in modern marriage ceremonies today. The person officiating at the ceremony would then wrap the clasped hands in the end of his stole to symbolize the trinity of marriage; man and woman joined by God. This symbolic binding together in marriage later evolved into the practice of wrapping the clasped hands with a cord or an embroidered cloth.

Modern Handfasting The couple were then considered to be officially bound together and could live as man and wife. Once the minister made his way to the parish or area where the couple resided, then an official church ceremony would take place, sealing the marriage. This could be a week, a month, a year or even longer. A little-known tradition in Scottish history is that when a couple married near a stone, it was believed that their vows were more binding. It became customary, then, for the couple to each place a hand on the same stone as they pledged their oath, thereby, setting their vows in stone. This stone was known as the oathing stone. The wedding day ended with the lang reel. This was a dance where the wedding party and the villagers began dancing in the village with dancers leaving the reel and retiring for the night as they passed their homes. The reel continued until the only couple left were the bride and groom, who had the last dance of the night.

17th Century New England Scottish Prisoners of War —John Putnam Are you ever surprised by re-learning history, which then challenges your traditional beliefs and perhaps genealogical research assumptions? As a Massachusetts native who loves history, I am amazed at the many new things that historians are discovering about the state’s founders and early immigrants. Maybe I am just suffering through “The more you know the less you know syndrome,” but my recent learning

www.wise-fhs.org W.I.S.E. Words 11 January, February, March 2019 curve on Massachusetts history has been on a steep rise. I descend from both Pilgrim and Puritan forefathers and mothers, so I am continually surprised to learn that many other immigrants shared our early Massachusetts history. In this article, I want to share my recent discoveries about Scottish Prisoners of War that were involuntarily (in most instances) brought to New England following their defeat at the Battles of Dunbar and Worcester in the mid seventeenth century. As we know in the present day, world events can impact us even though they happen many miles away. Therefore, it is impossible to just study local history, but we also need to broaden our scope and look at a wider perspective. Most of us have learned the Pilgrim and Puritan story that was taught to us early in our educational experiences. Interestingly, a lot of my early history played into our cultural myth that our ancestors left the “English motherland” for religious, economic, and political freedom. While there is certainly some truth to our early learning, we now find that, like ourselves, our ancestors were living in very challenging If you’ve hit a brick wall in your Scottish research, times. England was experiencing a very you might want to consider the possibility that your contentious civil war which, while across ancestor may be listed as a Scottish Prisoner of War. the pond, had many effects on New England from approximately 1640 to 1680. In short, the English Civil War pitted the Puritans under Oliver Cromwell against the English monarchy of King Charles, who eventually was executed. The two battles mentioned above were the major military actions in this war. The King’s troops were largely Scottish and, in both instances, were badly defeated leaving many dead, and many more held prisoner. What should the victors do with all these prisoners? It did not take long to decide to indenture them to our ancestors in early New England. Although they were not technically slaves, they were committed to an indenture of approximately seven years while they worked off their sponsor’s costs to transport from England. John Winthrop himself purchased many indentured servants to help run the Braintree and Saugus Iron Works (a fascinating separate story). Besides the infant iron industry, many others were employed in agricultural and timber industries as unskilled laborers. They were instrumental in helping their owners clear significant land to raise food for local consumption and international trade. As you might imagine, these indentured servants did not totally “fit” into the evolving New England cultural ways. While Protestant, they were typically not Puritans; they were political prisoners, and they were on the lowest socio-economic level. Certainly, they were dispossessed folks while they were working off their indenture. As they worked off their indentures, they migrated to the New England frontier. Land there was plentiful but dangerous due to the proximity to Native American tensions resulting from the onslaught of white expansionism. Despite their differences, they intermarried with many Puritan families and began the great “melting pot” tradition from which most of us have benefited at some point in our American ancestry. Their exact numbers are not known, but continued research is finding more all the time and cataloguing them with other known ancestors. If you have interest in learning more about them individually and collectively or have a genealogical roadblock that does not show up in traditional New England records, I recommend checking out the following website: https://scottishprisonersofwar.com/ which has great information on these. They also have a Facebook page to which I subscribe that is just a continual source of great information. You can read more about this subject in a newly released book: Carol Gardner, The Involuntary American – A Scottish Prisoner’s Journey to the New World, Chicago: Westholme Publishing, 2018. Where might you find these Scottish prisoners of war in your New England ancestry? Initially, you might want to concentrate your research in three geographical areas between 1650 and 1690: • The Saugus Iron Works which was near Charlestown and Lynn, Massachusetts;

• Taunton Massachusetts, another town with early iron manufacturing activities; and

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• Southern Maine and New Hampshire, towns of Berwick, Maine, and Dover, New Hampshire. As we all know, people migrate so it is possible you will find them elsewhere, but they likely started out in one of these three areas. An ancestor of mine, Alexander Innes, followed a path from Taunton into the southeastern area of Connecticut. Why did I get interested in this subject and why should you be interested? In my case, there are two reasons: • I have a rather significant immigrant roadblock in my paternal grandmother’s Gibbs line. While I still suspect Mathew Gibbs is English, he shows up in Charlestown Massachusetts just before these battles but was an indentured servant blacksmith. While not a listed Scottish prisoner, he is in the right area and industry, so I wanted to expand my knowledge to make sure I could rule out this possibility. Ironically, his grandson marries a Scottish woman 80 years later and was disowned by his Gibbs father for marrying a Scot.

• I am interested in better understanding how Colonial economies supported my ancestors. Imagine having to import every iron object into this country at a time when the mother country was embroiled in a civil war! As always, I am fascinated and interested in hearing from you about your take on any of my articles. You can reach me at [email protected]. Family History Hiding in Plain Sight —Carolyn Elliott (Granddaughter of Edna Martha Jennings Elliott) Family history may be staring you in the face, but only if you go digging in the family attic or basement. In October 2018, I found just such a treasure in my 93-year-old mother’s basement. Starting back in early September 2018, I began cleaning out my mother and sister’s basement as they prepared for a health- related move to Texas. As hoarders, they had mountains of stuff, but I got through it all. (They actually did not do anything unless I was there.) We found checks written in 1923, plus mounds of my late father’s business notes and documents. He passed away in January 2010, and we had to thumb through every single page of paper to make sure no social security numbers were readily available—a daunting task, to say the least! One of my grandmothers wrote all about the family history of her side of the family. In the early 1960’s, my grandmother (“Grandmommy” to me) had a neighbor friend type up all the notes, which filled five notebooks with nearly 200 pages in each notebook. In reading some of Grandmommy’s writings, I learned that her paternal grandmother was descended from Scottish ancestry: “It was from our Grandmother Martha Ann McKinney Jennings that our Scottish blood came. The McKinneys came from the clan of ‘the sons of Kenneth,’ a Galloway highland clan. My paternal great-grandfather was named McKinney. His daughter Martha Ann McKinney- Brim-Jennings was my Grandmother, my father’s mother. I . . . learn[ed] the origin of the name McKinney . . . from a native Scotsman [who] . . . mailed me several copies of The Weekly Scotsman published in Edinburgh, Scotland. One issue contained the information I wanted. . . . In Gaelic the clan name of McKinney stems from MacChoinnich. This is a Galloway surname which is a variant of MacWhinney which in turn is still another form of MacKenzie, just as MacKenny, MacVinnie, MacKinney, and MacQuhenzie are. All derive from the Gaelic MacChoinnich, son of Kenneth. . . . Several readers have asked to know the difference between ‘Mc’ and ‘Mac’—does one spelling denote an Irish background and the other identify a true Scotsman? Actually, the real difference is that ‘Mac’ is the correct Gaelic spelling of the word for ‘son’ and ‘Mc’ is the contracted form . . . Thus nearly all our surnames are but phonetic changes

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from the Gaelic. . . . You cannot say you are ‘Irish’ if you use ‘Mc’ for ‘Mac,’ for ‘Mc’ abounds in Scotland as well as in Eire.” As for the McKinneys coming from the clan of “the sons of Kenneth,” a Galloway highland clan, I found from Ancestry.com that Galloway, located in the southwest of Scotland on the coast, derives its name from Gaelic for “place of the foreign Gaels.” “Gaels” derives from Gaelic “gall,” meaning “foreigner.” I guess someone wanted to underscore “foreigners” (https://www.ancestry.com/name- origin?surname=Galloway). Aren’t we all foreigners? Certainly, my grandmother, Edna Martha Jennings Elliott, loved to learn things, and to write about what she learned and knew. She even wrote new verses to the tune “America, The Beautiful,” verses about her family’s history, a real treasure. Verse one goes as follows, Carolyn Elliott's Family History Treasure Books The Jennings clan is gathered here He married our dear Mother there In honor of our Dad— When he was 21. Missouri born, he wagon-trained They pioneered to El Reno To Texas when a lad. And that’s how we begun! Now I have some really serious reading to do, as well as scanning about 1,000 pages for preservation. As I talked with the preservationist at the Molly Brown House/Denver Historical Society, Stephanie McGuire (303-832-4092, extension 12), suggested I not only scan the pages, but also make photocopies onto acid- free paper, and place in acid-free notebooks. That approach will preserve the hard copies for a good while, and the digital approach will be useful for some time to come, as long as we still have the means to read the technology. Do you remember the old floppy disks? In time, I will need to update the method as technology changes. Then with the original notebooks, Ms. McGuire suggested I could make an acid-free box to fit the notebooks and wrap them with acid-free protective paper. All of the materials can be found on-line. Yippee! I have a job! Blarney Castle and the Stone of Eloquence —Thyria Kathleen Wilson The Blarney Stone (Cloch na Blarnan) is a tourist spot, although a worthy one. The stone is a large block of carboniferous limestone built into the battlements of Blarney Castle. The walls are eighteen feet thick, the stone is 83 feet above the ground, and kissers are dangled backwards over the battlements while lying on their backs. I did kiss the Blarney Stone. (Fortunately, not many people were around to see.) Legend has it that if a person kisses the stone, they are said to be given the gift of eloquence and the skill of flattery. Queen Elizabeth I wanted Irish chiefs to give title to their lands to her. Cormac Teige McCarthy, the Lord of Blarney, was able string the Queen along without offending her. He sidetracked the Queen’s emissaries with drinking, dancing, and his wit. The Queen is said to exclaim, “Blarney,

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Blarney, what he says he does not mean. It is the usual Blarney.” She may have admired his sly ability with words, because Queen Elizabeth later pardoned him two weeks before she died. Blarney castle, now in ruins, was a medieval stronghold near Cork and the River Martin, built in 1446 by Dermot MacCarthy, King of Munster. The castle has a spot where defenders could throw boiling oil on attackers. That spot is also a great place to view the extensive gardens and nearby Blarney Manor. In 1995, I went to Ireland with my friend Jackie and we went on a two- week bicycle trip around Cork. I swear all the roads and trails went straight up or straight down! We also drove around Ireland before and after the bicycle trip. It was lovely and interesting to Author Thyria Wilson gaining the gift of see Shannon Castle and the village, but my favorite castles were eloquence and the skill of flattery by kissing the ones that had not been restored, like Blarney. They felt more the Blarney Stone. (Note the green of the grass 83 feet below.) like medieval times, particularly with the steep stairs, small rooms, and the battlements. The eighth lord of the McCarthy Clan in County Cork was Cormac Mor MacTeige, who defeated Sir James, brother of the Earl of Desmond. Because of this victory he was appointed the Sheriff of County Cork by the Lord Justice of Ireland and was a powerful chief. He could raise 3,000 men in the service of the English Crown, and his lands nearly encircled the City of Cork. Charles Blount, Lord Montjoy, was fighting the O’Neills and other Catholic rebels in Ulster in 1600. Commander Montjoy, by destroying the Catholic lands, was winning against the rebels. They appealed to King Philip III of Spain, who reluctantly sent an expedition of 4,500 under Juan del Aguila. The Spanish Armada was blown off course and landed in Kinsale. Rebel clans O’Donnell and Tyrone went south and engaged with Montjoy’s troops on 24 December 1601. The Irish rebels were defeated by Lord Montjoy. Lord Cormac Mor and his troops fought with the President of Munster, Sir George Carew, in the siege of Kinsale against the Spanish. Sir George Carew had his eye on Blarney Castle for a garrison. Cormac Mor’s troops drove the Spanish back, but the Spanish received reinforcement and he was losing until relieved by the English army. The Spanish surrendered. After the battle, Cormac Mor was accused by some, including his cousin, of cooperating with the Spanish. He was arrested and jailed, destined for trial and the tower of . Two of his men, Maghon Og O Lyne and Owen McSweeney broke in through the cell window and cut off Cormac Mor’s irons. When the elderly chief hesitated to jump out the window of the tower, he was pushed out the window and landed in a cloak held by six of Cormac Mor’s men. Queen Elizabeth I pardoned Cormac Mor in 1603, and he died in Blarney Castle in 1616. Sources: Keough, Matt, “Blarney Castle facts and history with some fantastic myths and legends thrown in,” IrishCentral, 7 July 2018 (https://www.irishcentral.com/best-of-ireland/blarney-castle-stone : accessed 18 August 2018). Hamlyn, Kate, “Blarney Castle: Myth and Reality,” Irish Arts Review, Vol. 24, No. 4 (Winter, 2007): 126-129. Roanoke: Lost but Never Forgotten Andrew Lawler, The Secret Token; Myth Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke, New York: Doubleday, 2018. How could anyone write a 400-plus page book about something that’s been lost for 400 years and already has spawned countless books, articles and studies? Could there be anything new to say? Could it even be relevant today?

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The answer to all three questions is Yes. Author Andrew Lawler has worked over both old and new grounds to produce a captivating tale. It’s enhanced by impeccable research and an engaging style that keep the reader wondering what really happened to and the other 115 English colonists who were supposed to settle on an island—Roanoke—in the Outer Banks of . Still, you’re asking, why should W.I.S.E. members, intent on tracing their family roots, care about people who disappeared and may not have any descendants? Jamestown, yes, but Roanoke? The answers lie in the importance that the lost Colony of Roanoke holds for the pattern of settlement of North America. Andrew Lawler convincingly argues that it laid the groundwork for all successive colonies, by English and other Europeans, and as shown in customs, traditions and even genetics of current residents of the area and tells us who Americans really are. It’s not our genetics that define us, but our shared history and aspiration. Andrew Lawler signing his book, In brief, Roanoke was chartered by Queen Elizabeth I in 1587 at the The Secret Token, at Tattered Cover instigation of Sir . It was to be England’s first 17 November 2018. foothold in the New World. John White, the founder, returned to England for supplies, but when he got back to Roanoke several years later the settlers were nowhere to be found. They included his daughter , her husband , and their daughter, Virginia, who was born shortly after their arrival. That child, long considered the first English (white) baby born in the New World, has turned up in many contexts throughout the ages: as a blond and blue-eyed beauty on labels of a wine named for her and even as an icon of white supremacy. In the latter incarnation, she’s seen as a symbol of America’s founding as a white society, and her devotees bemoan our “mashup of genes and traditions.” The fact is, no one even knows whether she lived beyond infancy. The colonists left behind just one clue, a “secret token” carved into a tree—the letters COR, a secret code agreed upon before John White left, to indicate where they’d gone if they’d had to leave. Presumably, they had gone to Croatoan Island to the south, but that’s never been substantiated, and many people are still looking. The search has become the “Roanoke vortex,” the beguiling obsession to figure out what happened to the colonists. All murdered? Taken prisoner by natives? Died of natural causes? Wiped out in a hurricane? Moved inland where they assimilated with the natives? Despite his best efforts at resistance, the author eventually succumbed to the vortex, and apparently enjoyed the process. He joined archeologists in action, traveled the world, studied previous efforts both scientific and fraudulent. He learned about the fakes and hoaxes that salt the landscape, about well- meaning but faulty “creative researchers” who abandoned or ignored systematic study. He tells us about modern scientific tools and ethos used in the search -- including archeology, cartography and global positioning—and about efforts to save sites that virtually destroyed them. He talked to the locals, listened to their stories and noted their customs. He also delved into the legends, and that is where he comes up with a most convincing argument: Forget about the Virginia Dare story and the poor lost white people. The real story is not a mystery but a factual account of geopolitics, colonization, advancement of science and of investment. There’s no point any longer in reading romance into the story; instead, it’s important to understand that it’s rife with characteristics that drove explorers and entrepreneurs in the 16th century as strongly as they do five centuries later. At the end Lawler remains uncertain about what happened, but agrees with current logic: If they survived, the marooned colonists assimilated into the indigenous population either by force or willingly or both. It’s possible they chose to make a life apart from English civilization, perhaps the only means of survival.

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DNA studies eventually may provide evidence if not proof of the assimilation theory, but that’s likely a long way off. For starters, DNA of current residents shows a strong mixture of points of origin, heavy on Africa. Complicated, indeed. As Lawler puts it: “The Roanoke settlers didn’t vanish; they were lost in order to veil the likely but inconvenient truth that the survivors simply ceased to be white.” --Zoe von Ende Lappin W.I.S.E. Member and Author Zoe Lappin Wins Award —Mary Larson Zoe von Ende Lappin won the 52nd annual William Best Hesseltine Award for her article, “Pioneer Editor: Pete Savage and the Iron River Pioneer,” published in Wisconsin Magazine of History (Fall 2017, volume 101). The November 2018 press release issued by the Wisconsin Historical Society, read, “Her article received the most votes from the magazine’s readers for the best article of the volume year, and readers were uniformly delighted by Lappin’s story, which they called ‘absorbing,’ ‘well- documented,’ and ‘a truly marvelous read.’” The award was announced in the Winter 2018-19 edition of the Wisconsin Magazine of History.” Zoe shared anecdotes about her writing experience and her beloved grandfather, Pete Savage, longest-running editor of a small town paper in Wisconsin, at the December meeting. Congratulations, Zoe! Source: Wisconsin Historical Society Press news release, November 2018, “Wisconsin Magazine of History Author Zoe von Ende Lappin wins 2018 Hesseltine Award.” News release provided by Zoe Lappin.

Love Letters from Welsh Poet Dylan Thomas Zoe Lappin at the December 2018 meeting sharing anecdotes about her award from the —Compiled by Nancy McCurdy Wisconsin Historical Society Happy 2019 everyone. Next month, February 2019, we will celebrate Valentine’s Day. I wonder if some of you might like to read a few inspiring words contained in love letters written by our esteemed forbear, the Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas. Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea, Wales, in 1914. Dylan wrote poetry from the age of eleven years old until his death, in New York, at the age of 39, in 1953. The love letters published in this small book extend over Dylan’s lifetime. The letters were sent to various women. Dylan wanted to impress upon these women his heart felt feelings of love for them. The letters represent his signature mastery of language and poetry. A motivation for his writing was his intense depth of emotions, an intensity of passion that he had for life. The following lines are snippets from some of his love letters. Enjoy. To Pamela Hansford Johnson, Dylan’s first love. September.1933, Blaen-Cwm Llangain near Carmerthen Let [your reply] be long and soon. What I like about your poems is that they state, not contradict, they create, not destroy. I’m looking forward to seeing you again. You know how much I am. You are with me when I write.

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May 9, 1934 I think of you a lot. . . . these daft little notes of mine can serve no purpose but to show you again and again, how much I need you. [O]ne little color must be made out of you and me. I have written a poem since my last letter but it is so entirely obscure that I dare not let it out even unto the eyes of such a kind and commiserating world as yours. . . . I’ll walk this afternoon, and, perhaps, into the late night, when I write to you again, the nearsummer loveliness will have gone. . . . Goodbye till tonight, my dear. Sunday, 13th. I love you Pamela, more every day, think of you more every day and want to be with you more everyday. . . . I love you and love you. I only believe in you. Nice, round Pamela, I love you. All the time. Always will too. Write very soon and keep me alive . . . my twiceblessed. [K]iss yourself [for me] goodmorning and goodnight. Dylan. May 1934 Laugharne. I will never find anyone except you. . . . Soon I see you. Soon I kiss you hullo. . . . Soon I see you. Write by the end of this week. Darling, I love you. XXXX 27 May, 1934 in Bed. Yes I love you [in answer to a question]. You remember how I was when I said goodbye to you for the first time. In the Kardomah when I loved you so much and was too shy to tell you. . . .I love you Pamela, always & always. . . . I love you Pamela & must have you. As soon as all this [circumstance] is over I am coming straight up [to London]. Darling I love you & think of you all of the time.. . .XXXX Darling. Oh Darling. To Caitlin Macnamara who became his wife. Caitlin and Dylan met in a pub in 1936—it was love at first sight. As Caitlin recalls, Dylan told her that evening in the pub that he loved her. Caitlin and Dylan spent that night together, beginning a relationship that lasted until Dylan’s death July 17, 1936, 5 Cwmdonkin Drive Uplands Swansea. Caitlin darling darling,. . . I dreamed . . . dreams with you in them all the time. I love you Caitlin. I love you more than anybody in the world. May, 1937, 59 Gt. Ormond St.—W1. [After an affair with Emily Holmes Coleman] Caitlin Caitlin my love I love you, I can’t tell you how much, I miss you until it hurts me terribly. . . . Darling you must not be angry with me for not writing my love, my love which can’t ever move but is growing always;. . . day and night I think of you, love you, remember everything all the time, and know forever that we’ll be together again . . . because it musts be like that. . . . I must see you and hear you; . . . you are really my flesh and blood Caitlin whom I love more than anyone has loved anyone else, . . . I want you. When you’re away from me, it’s absolutely a physical removal. . . . [I]t’s nonsense me living without you, you without me: . . . but I love and love you. Only love, and true love. Caitlin Caitlin this is unbearable. Will you forgive me again . . . I’m dying perhaps, come and see me quickly, now, with some gooseberries and kisses for me. . . . Please, Caitlin my dear XXXXXX April 7, 1950. Caitlin…Caitlin. I don’t have to say My dear, My darling, my sweetheart,. . . Caitlin. . . . [A]ll the words are in that one word. Caitlin, Caitlin, and I can see your blue eyes and your golden hair and your slow smile and your faraway voice. Your faraway voice is saying, now, at my ear, the words you said in your last letter, and thank you dear for the love you said and sent. I love you. Never forget that, for one single moment of the long slow sad Laugharne day, never forget it in your mazed trances, in your womb & in your bones, in our bed at night. I love you. . . I love you. Think of me. Your Dylan.

Source: The Love Letters of Dylan Thomas, (Naperville, Illinois: Sourcebooks Casablanca, an Imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc., 1957, 2001), by The Trustees for the Copyright of Dylan Thomas.

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W.I.S.E. Program Schedule

Saturday Heirloom Sharing and Annual Meeting 26 January 2019 Bring an heirloom to share. Contact Sandy Ronayne at 1:30 p.m. [email protected] to be added to the schedule. Denver Public Library During the Annual Meeting we will be installing Officers, voting on 7th Floor revised bylaws, and reviewing and approving the 2019 budget.

Saturday 23 February 2019 Using MyHeritage.com to Research Your British Isles Ancestors 1:30 p.m. Daniel Horowitz, Chief Genealogist for MyHeritage Denver Public Library 7th Floor

Irish Research Seminar Featuring Fintan Mullan and Gillian Hunt Saturday of The Ulster Historical Foundation 16 March 2019 • Introduction to Irish and Scots-Irish Family History Research 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. • Understanding Irish townlands: the importance of place, identity Denver Public Library and administrative divisions Lower Level • Using land records: Griffith’s Valuation, Tithe and Estate records • Census substitutes and other important sources for the 18th century

The treats table at the December meeting—beautifully assembled by Debbie Boucher

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