Happy Birthday Paula!

This is dedicated to all the nieces and nephews's Favorite Aunt Paula!  Happy birthday!!  As I write this, you are prepping for your annual birthday bash--destined to be a luau this year.  I hope you get your lei on :)

The children in our lives are very fortunate to have Paula as their aunt.  I never had that "favorite aunt" in my back pocket the way Dad did with his Aunt Bud.  We lived too far away from Peter and Tim to really feel close to their spouses.  Aunt Jean cau't really fill that Favorite Aunt role either--at least for me.  I never got that warm fuzzy feeling from her the way I would expect to have with a Favorite Aunt. 

Paula goes out of her way to be part of their lives and, believe me, it makes a difference!  Thank you for allowing yourself to be that outlet for my children at least.  You are adored. 

Not only does she live the Favorite Aunt role, she's also one of Walton's unofficial mayors.  You cannot go anywhere with this woman without running into someone that says hello to her.  Walton is lucky to have you in its corner.  Thank you for all you do for the good of its citizens and youth.

Now for the fun part.  I have loads of pictures and it was hard to select just these few to represent Paula's life to this point (note I did note mention a number of years.....).  You have probably seen most of these but I hope they bring back nice memories.

 Paula's big happy smile!

 A real birthday in 1964

7th grade class officer

1973 Benny is a new pup

Following in Dad's steps as cheerleader

North Carolina years

Sisters just want to have fun

With Uncle Tim in Gloucester 2009

Wow.  The 50th birthday.  I hope not to see this repeated tonight. The leis could cause imbalance.

Happy birthday Paula and of, course, Princess Delaney.  We love you!

History Made Here

I had some incredibly great luck recently in the family history research on the Nevins side of the family! 

Many years ago while researching in Olean, I came across a notebook in the public library that contained a number of local biographies.  This was among them and I thought I had hit the jackpot.  At the time, I knew almost nothing about Henry Nevins (our great grandfather--Nanny's father).  This piece of hand-typed onion paper with a 3 hole punch out of that notebook provided HUGE clues for me to follow and I was ecstatic.

But then I noticed a few discrepancies--especially with dates-- and I have no idea how this Citizens Historical Association got its information.  In particular, I saw that Henry's father John was noted to have been born in Canada (not Ireland as I thought) and that he had lived in the Lockport area as a grocer for some time before he settled in the Ellicottville area.    I have searched all these years since for some kind of evidence that John was born in Kingston Canada and lived in Lockport NY for a time. 

And then, almost accidentally, I found it!  New York State conducted a census halfway between the federal census years several times:  1855, 1865, 1875 for example.  I had John Nevins well documented in census and other records from 1860 forward--all in the Ellicottville area.  Until the other night, up popped the NY 1855 census and there was John in Lockport with his MOTHER Mary, sister Catherine and two children that belonged to a brother.  He appeared to be a "grocerman"

This verified what the Citizens Historical Association published and gave me clear evidence that John had at least one brother.  Nanny claimed there were a bunch of brothers, but I've never found them either.

This monument is in the Holy Cross cemetery in Ellicottville.  Listed on the other side are twins Matty and Christy Nevins who died of diptheria when they were about 6-- great grandfather Henry is their brother (and HA--we have twins in our line!).  I've suspected, hoped, wondered, prayed that this Mary might be John's mother.  Now I know it is and I feel like an open book has been closed.  I will presume John's father Henry was dead by the time John found himself in Lockport around 1852.

Some days you are the teflon and some days you are the velcro.  Sometimes things just go smoothly and sometimes they get sticky.  I was TEFLON this same day because I also found John's future wife in 1855 in the city of Rochester--this was a complete surprise.  Julia Fisher, 19, was documented in Rochester in 1855 with her father John, her mother Ann and her brother Christopher.  The image is very hard to read and I can't tell much from it but they are clearly there --ever so close to the Nevins family!  For some reason each family migrated to Ellicottville and that's where history was made starting in 1866 when John and Julia married.

Work hard enough and long enough and sometimes the pieces fall into place.  Ahhhhh.....

Wicked Tuna hits close to home

The new season of Wicked Tuna is scheduled to start next Sunday February 16.  We follow that series pretty closely and Jim likes to see if he can match up the docks and boats to something familiar from our visits.  We also just like to hear the fishermen talk.  That distinct Massachusetts/Boston/Gloucester-speak is something we miss --we also now miss hearing the Irish brogue but that's a different story for a different day.

Turns out we have a second cousin who will appear this season with his vessel The Lily.  I think the third episode "Into the Storm" is the one you might want to watch on Sunday March 2.  This is the link to the NatGeo TV website about that episode with some pictures. 

Capt Billy "Hollywood" Muniz is a grandson to our "Aunt Eleanor" Pierce.  Some of you might just barely remember Aunt Eleanor--most of you probably remember her being referred to by Timothy, Peter or Dad.

This is Aunt Eleanor with Barbara Pierce from the 1992 reunion.  I believe the lady on the left is Eleanor as she seems to have the recognizable Pierce features.  Barbara is a "no-blood" :) 

I was telling Paula that we had a cousin appearing on Wicked Tuna and she asked me how I tracked that down.  I really led her down the wrong path in giving her the wrong name and the wrong story.  Sorry, Paula--how I tracked this down was actually from some handwritten notes I had taken during our October visit.  I always try to be prepared, but when Uncle Tim starts telling stories or dropping hints, sometime I have to scramble to find paper and pen.  Sometimes it's after some libations.  Often it is during libations.  In this case, my notes get a little shaky BUT he clearly noted that Eleanor's daughter Carole had two children and that he thought Billy Muniz was a fisherman with his own boat.  I kind of remembered seeing the Muniz name in the Good Morning Gloucester blog, so off I went searching for him.  Lo and Behold: Wicked Tuna, Season 3!

Capt Billy is involved in some fishing initiatives including the Large Pelagics Research Center and the Northeast Consortium Collarborative Research Project (wow that's a mouthful) and that's how I found this picture.  I believe he's the big guy third from the right.  Watch for him and our very brief 2 degrees of separation from fame!

Be Kind to James Day??

It's a valuable exercise to review old documents for new information, especially when researching family history.  Sometimes you find new and interesting tidbits of information.  Sometimes you don't, but it's still fun to look.  This is one of those stories, except some of it may be news to you.

This is a copy of Weenie's birth certificate.  It can be considered an official document because it has a raised seal.  I think you already know he was born in Emporium PA and that his parents were Patrick Flynn and Barbara Lippman.  Though, take note here, that his mother is listed as "Barbetta Lypmann".  It's the only time I've seen her referred to as Barbetta but I need to remember to keep that in mind for future research.  Other than Barbara, I've seen her listed at Betty a couple of times. 

One very important item to look at when reviewing such documents is the date it was issued.  In this case, this appears to have been issued June 7 1954, when Weenie was 47.  It is not uncommon to have to round up new copies of vital records for a variety of reasons including marriage, passport application, establish identity to pursue estates and so forth.  Whatever the case, it usually indicates some significant life event and is therefore worth noting.  But I am not sure what was happening for Weenie in 1954 that would warrant the need for his birth record.  We may never know but it leaves a little crumb to follow someday.

More interesting to note is that this is a corrected certificate (see upper right corner).  The corrections are noted on the back as seen here:

Perhaps you already knew that Weenie was originally named James Thomas but did you know his birthdate was not originally listed at August 24?!?!?!?!  What if BKTF Day was BKTJ Day a day earlier????  What if what we have always known to be true and celebrated .....wasn't?

Traditionally, families would name the first son after his paternal grandfather--whose name was supposedly Timothy so I'm not really certain where James came from, but Thomas is Barbara's father's name.  That James sitting there is another tantalizing clue to follow someday.  Someday........