Wrapping up the Cullins

Is a genealogy ever finished, well no – there is always more to discover. I’ve had the feeling, though at this point in my life it is good to do some ‘wrapping-up’ of the family lines. It wasn’t difficult to decide which line was first as these people (in a ‘6^th Sense’ way) have tugged at me and called to me for years. And, in a more down to earth way – be it an email from a distant cousin, or a little tidbit in an old faded newspaper the Cullins have been persistent.

It hasn’t been an easy journey. It has been 64 years since I first learned of my Great Grandmother Hannah Cullins Shaffer. No one talked about her after she died of cancer at the age of 55 in 1921. My grandfather wouldn’t mention his mother. My grandmother tried to get him to open up but he stayed as closed as a threatened clam – which makes one think that there were unhappy memories. Grandma hinted at that, but I can only speculate. Then Hannah’s mother, Amanda Cordray Cullins, I was told came from a tragic family living under a dark cloud, including a house fire where everything was lost. 

Dorcas Cullins, Hannah's sister

The Cullins and Cordray families were from Ohio, but Amanda was a puzzle. I was pretty sure Amanda came from Muskingum County, which was her husband’s birthplace, but to which Cordray family did she belong? She fell through the cracks of the 1850 census where she should have been named. She wasn’t yet married to William C. Cullins and she wasn’t listed with any Cordray family. She was about 16 and my guess is that she hired out to another farm as a mother’s helper and wasn’t counted with them.

To move on with the line I had two possibilities – either Amanda was the daughter of George Washington Cordray or his brother Andrew. At first I thought it was George and put that option on my tree, however that was a mistake and misleading to others who might have copied my work as I still had no proof that Amanda was George’s daughter. I kept looking and years down the road I found that ‘one little thing’ that confirmed her father to be Andrew and not George.

That one little thing? It was one of those little gossipy news items in a Fayette County, Iowanewspaper that told us that ‘Amanda Cullins had a visit from her sister Charlotte.’ It was Andrew who had a daughter named Charlotte. For a time Charlotte and her family lived in Fayette County but they’d moved on to South Dakota. Mystery solved.

William C Cullins, Hannah's father

Hannah’s Cullins family goes back to a Revolutionary War Soldier, John Cullins b 1705, originally from Ireland and with whom our families’ members can join the DAR or SAR if they wish. This is an established DAR line. Recently ancestry.com has added ‘Thrulines’ to our trees that show our DNA matches for each person back to our 5^th great grandfathers. That would be to Edward Cullins b 1727, the son of the Revolutionary John.

I’m very near to compiling and printing this information for my family with the help of ancestry.com’s ‘Life Story’ feature that adds significant events that occurred during their lifetimes.

Where from here with the Cullins? Last week I found the feature on ancestry’s DNA pages that helps me color code cousin groups. Wow, the group for Cullins, Cordray and a couple other allied families has 93 cousins of varying degrees. Those are just the ones with public trees who share information. There are so many more with private trees, or who have disconnected their trees, or haven’t built their trees yet. What to do with that cousins group?! I’m thinking about contacting the 93 to see if they would like to have a cousin’s Facebook page for sharing, friendship, and family reunions.

As for my Cullins family I have a choice, I can develop each allied family, as I have for the Cullins – filling out our information on our Muskingum County Ohio lines – or, I can pick a different family entirely. The thing is I recently fell into another Cullins rabbit hole when I received an email about their Delaware roots. Delaware? What! 

On Joining the DAR

Why join the DAR? I suppose there are portions of the population that haven’t a clue what I’m talking about and need this explained, but the vast majority have at least heard that ‘DAR’ stands for Daughters of the American Revolution, an organization first established in Washington D.C. in 1890 by women celebrating their revolutionary roots. These women stepped up to form their own club after being rejected and excluded from membership in the SAR, or Sons of the American Revolution. Now, doesn’t that sound familiar? The DAR has gone on to surpass the SAR in width and depth, in service, fame, and controversy. Both celebrate the American Revolution and our genealogical roots to the founding of our country.

There are articles about the DAR on their website at www.dar.org and various other informational sites, such as wikipedia.com and encyclopedia.com. I won’t repeat the information here other than to say it is a service, social, and genealogical organization that came to me with confusingly mixed reviews.  I’m at the beginning of my approach to membership and will chronicle the journey for others who might like to follow.

My personal involvement with the group has a little history. I started doing genealogy with my paternal grandmother when I was 11 years old. She was proud of her family and we spent summers putting together photo albums and talking about the old folks. She grew up in small town Iowa where 100% of the population was white, most of them were farmers or in farm related businesses and anyone who was anybody belonged to a local church, the Masons or Elks or other service group if you were a man; and with a Mason husband you belonged to the Eastern Star. This was her world. It was a world of helping neighbors build or harvest or quilt. It was a world of patriotism and honoring the flag (which you brought in from the rain or snow, and which you never let touch the ground). It was not an era without problems. There aren’t any of those. But it was a kinder, gentler world where there were no locks on doors and neighbors helped neighbors.

I grew up in the city with roots in the Baptist, Democrat, union beliefs of my mother’s family. But, oh did I love my Methodist, Republican, Masonic and Eastern Star grandparents of Northeastern Iowa. I loved the world of small town politics (my grandfather ran for office), ice cream socials, feeding harvest crews, family reunions, and social evenings of bridge.

I must have been a teen when my grandmother handed me a small book containing the genealogy of the Rowland’s  (her maiden name). With it, she proudly announced that I should be able to join the DAR – something I hadn’t thought about previously. Why she didn’t join is a mystery. She was college educated and a teacher with the skills to pursue a membership, but that quest she bequeathed to me. A child of divorce, maybe she thought it would tie me closer to my father’s family.

But then, in my Democratic soul I heard of Eleanor Roosevelt’s resignation from the DAR over their racial attitudes and the shunning of the opera singer, Marian Anderson, and I put membership out of mind as being impossible. My roots run deep on both sides of the family with abolitionists, underground railroaders, and followers of John Brown. How could I be a member of such an organization? It may be why my grandmother didn't join, and she passed to me with the hope that attitudes would change within the DAR.

Of course, the group, spurred by Eleanor and the times has changed and they welcome women of color as long as they have roots in the Revolution; and they have promotional photos sprinkled with faces of various hues. Still, I’m not much of a joiner and membership hasn’t been a priority.  Now, at 71, I’m looking to please my grandmother, who I imagine as watching over me and my long genealogical journey; and to open the way for my daughters and granddaughters to be DAR and my son and grandsons to be SAR if they choose.

After a lifetime of research and building the family tree I find I have many choices from the revolutionary soldiers in the family. Prior to 2012 I’d hoped to join with a line on my mother’s side so that she could also join. Time got away from me, my mother left us, and I still haven’t joined. Now I’m considering a membership based on the Cullins family – really an odd choice as they are not my mother’s family nor are they my paternal grandmother’s family, but instead are my paternal grandfather’s family.

I was amazed at my family’s involvement in the establishment of Ohio after the Northwest Territory opened for development. The Cullins family was one of those pioneering families that moved into the wilderness, coming up from Virginia or what became West Virginia. And, my joining the DAR through this line rests on the fact that John Cullins (listed with the DAR as Cullens) was the first family member I found that had already been established in the DAR genealogy databank. Someone else has laid the groundwork and what I need to do is prove our family connection and voilà I can be a member – or, at least I hope so.

This then, is the beginning of my membership journey.  It has been a mixed bag so far. About 4 or 5 years ago I enthusiastically contacted, via email, a woman in my area (north costal San Diego County) about help in the application process. She was designated as a contact person, but I never heard from her. I let it drop. Then at the beginning of September 2015 I tried once again – pulling a contact off the Internet for the state-level organization. I heard back immediately from the membership chair for the state of California and I thought I was on my way. She promised that I would hear from a local member who could help me with the application.  By the end of September I still hadn’t heard from that local person. This time, instead of letting it drop I wrote that helpful woman at the state level once again. There is a chapter in the city where I live and she tracked them down immediately.

I have now heard from a local person, who has invited me to a meeting at the country club. Figures – I'm afraid I’ll be a poor donkey in the midst of a herd of well-heeled elephants – but this is Oceanside and not San Diego, so we’ll see. The DAR is a genealogical, social and service organization but I can't help but see it in political terms. I wonder if there'll be any other Bernie Sanders supporters in the group?

I want to meet with someone and finish my initial application before venturing into a meeting. We’ll see how this goes.

Photo from http://jacobandwinnasmith.weebly.com/revolutionary-war-documents.html

Lovin' Ohio from the outside in. . .

If you are new to the blog here’s a brief summary – it is a genealogy blog currently focused on our Ohio pioneers. I'm an outsider. Ohio was pretty much a blank slate for me, as I grew up in Iowa and live in California. 

What an adventure! Ohio is a beautiful land filled with creative, talented Americans who love their  country, their villages and cities, their townships and counties – and most of all their state. When they leave it they pine for it, when they are home they cheer for it. The last eleven posts have featured YouTube videos of Ohioans showing off and singing about their state – with honesty – both the good and the bad.  Not only Ohioans sing about the place.  Here are two Ohio songs that rock from Australia and Texas!

If you haven't heard of Kingswood from Australia you will. They are heading our way. Love the way they rock. That lead singer - whoa! he's fabulous!

Kingswood - "Ohio"



Probably everyone in the world heard this next song before I did. It's great fun.

Ohio (Come Back to Texas) - Bowling for Soup,  with video by Amy Taylor



Credits:
Ohio by Kingswood, YouTube by Cascket1, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CXyYyXMQcA
Ohio (Come Back to Texas), YouTube, Bowling For Soup, video by Amy Taylor, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45DFVyriVI0.
Photo: Ohio Forest Services, http://www.ohioforestservices.com/CertifiedForests.html

Dreaming of Apples

I had a dream – not in the Martin Luther King, Jr sense of the word – more in the Freudian way – last night . . . about flying.  It was complicated – inside the huge craft – sort of a combo airliner and space craft – was a corporate world. I’ve recently watch the 1^st season (thank you Netflix) of the Sci-Fi TV series Continuum. In that craft there was a busy business world of employees – some thriving and a few about ready for the ax – I was trying to encourage the stragglers while enjoying the overall ambience of success -- I was (possibly?) a guardian angel. At one point I had a pleasurable ride outside the plane on the wing – but by the end of the dream I was admiring the beautiful apples they had grown – not on trees – but squat apple bushes that could be grown in the craft.

How does all of this relate to genealogy? I believe it was all about genealogy.  Hmm, what family was I working on last night? Since I’d covered given names, it was time to look at the meaning and origins of surnames. One of my most favorite of our surnames is – can you guess? There’s a clue in my dream.  Yes . . . it’s Apple. Isn’t that a sunny, wonderful name?

Back before I knew there were Apple’s in our family there was a feel-good television series, dubbed a dramedy, called Apple’s Way.  It was the creation of Earl Hamner, Jr. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, possibly you’d recognize his vastly popular series, The Walton’s. Apple’s Way was on the tube in 1974-75.  Ronnie Cox starred as George Apple – and maybe this is why I liked it – it was about a family tired of the city (Los Angeles) who moved back to their roots in Appleton, Iowa.  How can I fault anyone for doing that? Of course, I’m in San Diego and you don’t see me beating a retreat to my snowy home state of Iowa – but, I’d sure like to have the money to buy the old ‘Shaffer’s Ranch’ for a family vacation home – so maybe I’m more like George Apple than I thought.

Eventually, I was thrilled to find Apple’s hanging on our family tree. Here is the meaning given the surname Apple/Appel/Apfel courtesy of ancestry.com:

Apple Name Meaning

English: from Middle English appel ‘apple’ (Old English æppel), acquired as a surname in any of various senses: a topographic name for someone living by an apple orchard; an occupational name for a grower or seller of apples; or a nickname for someone supposed to resemble an apple in some way, e.g. in having bright red cheeks. The economic importance in medieval northern Europe of apples, as a fruit that could be grown in a cold climate and would keep for use throughout the winter, is hard to appreciate in these days of rapid transportation and year-round availability of fruits of all kind. Americanized form of Appel or Apfel.

When I Googled the meaning of surnames they sent me to a great feature of ancestry.com/learn/facts.  Hey, I just Googled again and they started the page with the meaning of the word surname, so if you don’t know, here goes thanks to Google:

Surname -  sur·name

Noun A hereditary name common to all members of a family, as distinct from a given name.

The surname meaning is only one feature of this cool page.  Ancestry gathers what they know about a family (in a general sense) and presents here.  For the name ‘Apple’ they offer a search box to look for specific Apple’s; and tell you that there are 208,896 Historical Documents and Family Trees with Apple on Ancestry.com (these are broken down by category). Next there is a U.S. map explaining the value of census records. This is a 1920 map showing the numbers of Apple’s in each state. The largest by far are Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania. Now doesn’t that sounds like apple territory?  The Apple’s were early Ohio pioneers, of course, or they wouldn’t be part of this project.

 Next on ancestry’s Apple page are six categories with pull-down windows.

 #1 is “Apple Family Origin” – without repeating all of the information I’ll tell you that the vast majority originally came from Germany.

#2 is “Apple Immigration Information” -- this chart often doesn’t serve our families as it reflects immigration from 1851 to 1889.  Most of our families came in much earlier.  However, there is a link to look at ‘all Apple immigration records’ if you care to sort through them.

#3 is “Average Life Expectancy for Apple” – these records are from the Social Security. The chart shows that the life expectancy in 1940 was 31.  You may wonder why so young?  All of the family records start very low, so I’m thinking it has more to do with the number of people registered for SS at that early date. The first SS card was issued in 1936. In 2001 the life expectancy was 77. That’s pretty good for an apple, wouldn’t you say? It is no doubt, higher now.

#4 is “Apple Family Occupations” – These are very general categories taken from the census records. There may be 5 doctors, and 3 lawyers but they won’t show up – this shows the large categories and whether or not they exceeded the general population in a particular occupation such as farming.  I dare say that all our family names, in their example of 1880, come up with farming at the top of the occupation list. So . . . The percentage of the larger population involved in farming in 1880 was 35% but 46% of all Apple’s were farming.

#5 is “Apple Civil War Service Records” - There were 268 records in total. In a brother against brother war – there were 92 Confederate soldiers and 176 Union soldiers.

# 6 is a link that brings up the Apple Message Board – a useful tool in looking for your Apple’s who have fallen off the tree.  You are not in this alone, there are others out there looking for Apple’s and they might know something about yours. 

 At the bottom of the page is another search box to look up another surname, so that you can use this useful page for every name on your tree.  Can you tell I’m an ancestry.com fan?  I am, and they keep getting better all the time.

 Here are 2 other interesting names on our family tree:

 Walker Name Meaning

English (especially Yorkshire) and Scottish: occupational name for a fuller, Middle English walkere, Old English wealcere, an agent derivative of wealcan ‘to walk, tread’. This was the regular term for the occupation during the Middle Ages in western and northern England. Compare Fuller and Tucker. PWH As a Scottish surname it has also been used as a translation of Gaelic Mac an Fhucadair ‘son of the fuller’

 (Not only do we have Walker’s on our tree – my granddaughter is marrying a Walker next month!)

 Rowland Name Meaning

English: from Rol(l)ant, a Norman personal name composed of the Germanic elements hrod ‘renown’ + land ‘land’, ‘territory’ (or + -nand ‘bold’, assimilated to -lant ‘land’). This was popular throughout Europe in the Middle Ages as a result of the fame of Charlemagne’s warrior of this name, who was killed at Roncesvalles in ad 778.English: habitational name from places in Derbyshire and Sussex, so named from Old Norse rá ‘roebuck’ + lundr ‘wood’, ‘grove’.Variant of German and French Roland.

Have fun researching your names!

Clip art courtesy of Microsoft