I’ve got another Menzies letter here. There was quite a bit of correspondance between the cousins/siblings in America and London. I’m certainly not complaining! I couldn’t quite make out the date of this letter, but if it is 1888 (I think it might be), I imagine Jennie Menzies-Love’s home life is starting to deteriorate. This would lead up to what happens in 1890. I’m going to get my hands on an article of that as soon as possible!

Glencoe May 8, 18??

My Dear Cousin,

Whatever is the matter with you, is any of you sick, or are you tired of your country cousins, please drop me a card and let me know, I wrote you a long letter, and I sent one of my Husband’s photo, but no answer yet. I could not wait another day, I thought perhaps you were sick – I have had a very hard winter with cough and pain, but thank god I am now a great deal better. I walked to our Church yesterday. I was so pleased to be able to walk that distance and Bob was just as proud as if I had went five miles, he said it meaned? good to have me along again, and today I am going out to make a few calls, everyone was so kind to me when I was sick, if I keep gaining? I am going to London next week to have my photos taken. Then I will send you one dear cousin Jennie.

After you left it seemed to me that I had not seen half enough of you, but perhaps we will meet again, I would like you to send me Mr Loves, yours and some of the childrens photos. I just got Maggie’s today it is a splendid one. I had a letter from Bell last week. They are all well. Jessie has moved to? miles away mean Mr Bech shop? – I am going down there in June also over to Charlies at the Lake shore near Sormia? I will write you from there. I wish you could visit there with me, they have a large house right at the Lake. Bob says if I gain ten pounds this summer he will buy me a gold watch and chain. I am going to try but I do not want a watch as my health is so poorly that it would seem foolish. Sister Agnes was here three weeks, I had a letter from Harry Cormack he is in San Francisco, he has gained five pounds lately. Jane is away at London next Saturday. I don’t know when she will be home, Andrew is busy the children are well Jennie Simpson is with me yet is going  to leave in the fall. Bob is kept very busy, is going to take a holiday and visit Charley this summer if he can get a man for a while. Sister Mary Ann was down lately they are all well. Also ??? Armstrong poor old Lache blind but very well, Harry Ferris & Jennie are getting along nicely at river also Mary Clanahan, Mr Allen & all your river friends. I wrote a long letter to Aunt Margret in N? today, she has been poorly lately. Bob joins with love to Mr Love yourself and family, kiss again and pray for me, write soon.

Yours lovingly,

Maria S Cha????? (Maybe Chamberlain/Clanahan, it is smeared too much to tell for sure)

Overall, my Menzies research is really coming together now. I just need to get my hands on some of those New York Marriage Records to be sure. So hopefully next week, I can get some more answers!

One of the many mysteries I’ve always had with my family tree is the Menzies family. Yes I’m pretty sure they came from Scotland, though some lived in England also. When I got my boxes of documents and photos, one of the many things in there were a whole bunch of miscellaneous articles about Menzies people. Nothing ever said how each person was linked. The closest I got was the Menu Tree.

Now that I’m getting better at researching, I think I may be starting to fill in some blanks, literally. The only clue I had to my Menzies connection to start with was Jennie Menzies’ mother, Jane Farris-Menzies, living with Jennie and her husband William W Love in 1880. That gave me a starting point. That’s what clued me in to how these random Menzies articles could be important. One was an Obituary for Alexander G Menzies. Another was an article about a ‘London Strangler’ who murdered a Lady Menzies and her daughter one night in February 1954. I still don’t know how those people are related but I am getting closer.

Yesterday I was searching for the Love family on Castle Garden. I was hoping to find William W Love in the time period that was indicated on the 1900 and 1910 census. Hopefully he would have been coming over with his mother and father so I could verify that. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything that was definitely him. I then decided to take a walk on the wild side and plugged Menzies into the search, just for fun. I didn’t have an immigration date as my Jane/Jennie Menzies-Love died in 1890 (wait till I find the article chronicling that!). I did however know her mother’s name and estimated birth date. I found the above Menzies in my search. My next step was trying to locate this particular family to see if it met up with my Menzies family or if they were two separate families.

Read the rest of this entry »

For many many years (okay for 4 years), I have been trying to locate where the New Zion Cemetery in Pendleton County, Kentucky is located. I found the New Zion Cemetery listed on James William Applegate‘s death certificate. He is the second generation of Applegates and his father died fairly young, so information from that time is hard to find. So having a cemetery to go to and look around might solve some things for me. Maybe he’s in a family plot? I don’t know until I find it.

Unfortunately for me, all mentions of this cemetery are vague at best. My Google-fu obviously needs polishing. However, I was adding in James’ source information on my website last night and I was re-checking some websites. I got the most pleasant surprise!

James and his wife were added into the Find a Grave database! Not only that but there was a photo of the headstone to boot!  This record was only added on March 25th of this year. So my checking back was a very good thing! To think if I had given up on New Zion Cemetery, I never would have gotten the extra gusto needed to keep on task. Now that I see there is proof, I could add that in to my file, but I am not adding photos unless they are taken by me. Just a little thing I want to do for myself. I want to visit all my ancestors eventually.

So that’s where I got the idea for this “Follow Friday”. Find a Grave is such a valuable source! Especially if you can’t get to the cemeteries yourself right away. I’m even signed up as a Contributor and Photo Volunteer. So if you need any pictures from cemeteries in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, just let me know!

In fact, something new to Find a Grave since my last visit is the ability to add Relationship Links and Transcriptions! I’m going to have to check that out!

Find a Grave

Follow Friday is a Daily Blogging Topic I got from GeneaBloggers. To participate in Follow Friday, simply create a post in which you recommend another genealogy blogger, a specific blog post, a genealogy website or a genealogy resource. Tell us why they are important to the genealogy community and why we should follow.

Since the last post was about Dad’s side of the family, this one will be about Mom’s. A few years back, my Mom was getting cookbooks from one of those mail order book clubs. This one was exclusively for cookbooks. This gem came in the mail at some point. I didn’t think anything of it at first. Then a light bulb went off in my head. Hey, the family name of Rowe!

To know the significance of the name Rowe, you have to be familiar with my family tree. Which you probably aren’t. That’s okay, I’ve done my research and I know my stuff! My mother’s family line is made up 90% of the surname Mays. They liked to have children and they didn’t stop at two or three. One thing I realized when I started trying to research the Mays’ was that they are very difficult to research. The surname can be construed as many different things, and it depends on who was spelling it. They not only were many, but they were spread out over a ton of country. They started in Virginia from what I can find, and they spread eventually to Kentucky. When I say Virginia and Kentucky I mean the whole state. So if your name is Mays and you live in Virginia or Kentucky… Hi, I just might be your cousin!

Back to the point. One of the things I realized was that the Mays family had lots of children, but those children married into the same families. So my Mays ancestors married many people from the Rowe, Whitt, Click, and Slusher. That’s just what I’ve proven. Who knows what else! Not to mention those I’m aware of but haven’t found proof of yet.

So when I sat down one day looking through cookbooks, I finally took a good look at what this one contained.

Do you notice that little nugget? The sister of Mildred Craft-Rowe? Bertha Mays. I have to be up front with you. I do not believe in coincidences. Everything happens for a reason and if something eerie happens, then that means listen up it’s important. So my little mind has been agonizing over this ever since. Not only does the cookbook show that the sisters married into both the Rowe and Mays families, it tells me that they are from an area of Virginia that my Mays line was very prevalent.

Even if I didn’t have a maybe family connection to this cookbook, I would still love this cookbook. It not only has lots of stories and photos from the family, it has great down home recipes. I’m going to try some of them very soon!

Visit Mrs. Rowe’s Restaurant Website

Get your own cookbook at Amazon.com!

I’ll let you guys know if I ever connect the dots on this mystery.