The Exchequer Rolls of Scotland Rotuli Scaccarii Regum Scotorum By Scotland Court of Exchequer, John Stuart, George Burnett, George Powell McNeill, Aeneas James George Mackay, General Register House (Edinburgh, Scotland).

The Exchequer Rolls of Scotland Rotuli Scaccarii Regum Scotorum By Scotland Court of Exchequer, John Stuart, George Burnett, George Powell McNeill, Aeneas James George Mackay, General Register House (Edinburgh, Scotland).: "Hairschaw Hareschaw Hartschaw vie Ayr lands of granted to Margaret Boyd in liferent 136 216 254 318 347 fermes of 186 215 253 318 346 sasine of 384 19"

To and From York, PA

June Lloyd at Universal York has a post on the railroad age in York, which permitted people and goods easy access to many places.

One little appreciated vehicle of transportation for the York area was the Susquehanna River. I bought, skimmed, and almost immediately misplaced a book on working lives in the Broome County, NY area. Apparently for many years lumbering was the big industry there, beginning in the 1790's and going on until about the 1850's. Men would fell the trees, particularly during the winter, skid them to the river(s), and in the spring float them down the Susquehanna to market. Then the raftmen would travel back to Broome county.

My guess is the river path was probably the way the Rippeys, McCauley's, Blacks, and McIntyres traveled from York and Lancaster Counties to Ontario County, NY

John Harshaw of Bangor

Marjorie and I were discussing our early ancestors--there's a John Harshaw of Bangor (not Maine, Ulster) recorded in the 1630's or so--and when they might have entered Ireland. Glancing at the wikipedia.com entry for the Ulster Plantation corrected some of my misimpressions, and suggested John might have been part of the Hamilton settlement.

Googling brings us to this interesting website on Hamilton/Montgomery. The website even includes a map with "Bangor" at the top (on the Belfast Lough). Unfortunately, the website apparently was put up in connection with the 400th anniversary of the settlement (in 1606) and hasn't been added to since.

Trip, Day 4 [Updated]

Was yesterday, Wednesday, but I was too pooped to post. Briefly we drove from outside Lexington directly to Cutler, changing our plans so we could catch Jackie Carrothers in the Cutler Library. (This was after realizing we gained an hour by moving to the CDT zone.) We ended with Erjuanna Hartman (cemetery) and her husband, Robert, Jackie's husband Melvin, Jim Richmond (descended from one of the original families of the area), and Pat, the treasurer. We shared information and good feelings, learned a bunch of things which we'll try to assimilate and disseminate, toured the Presbyterian church with Jim, ate lunch with Jim, then visited the cemetery and saw the family graves (and also the work Jim and Melvin are doing in fixing problems with the gravestones). Drove to Du Quoin to pick up information on data in the library for planning today's trip. Went on to Sparta for a 2-night stay.

Trip, Day 3 [Updated]

An all-driving day--leaving Breezewood in the morning (I'm sure someone has written extensively on Breezewood as a phenomena, I may return to it later), driving through Columbus, Cincinnati, and past Louisville, missing some turns (through failure to plan and organize sufficiently and senior lapses :-).

This is all McCain-Palin territory, as is most of the American landscape. A good reminder to us Eastern liberals of the extent of the country and its sentiments. "Hell is Real" as one sign read. And everyone said "hello", including the guy who noticed my VA plates and asked--which county--he was from Prince William.

We ended up just northwest of Louisville, KY where Marjorie had a long conversation with a woman who told her her life story.

(Since my photos for today ended up in the same slide show as tomorrow, see Day 4 for photos.)

DNA and Ancestry

Have I said I had my DNA tested, through Ancestry.com? (Not necessarily a plug for ancestry, by the way.) Anyhow, I did and the results came through just before Marjorie and I left for our trip.

Of course, the paternal DNA test would work to identify Harshaw males--the son, of a son of a son, etc. The maternal works the mother's side, so that's a Hoeppner. I'm still struggling with the Ancestry software on the DNA side, but I've made connections with a (third???) cousin in England, trying to figure out the intermediate linkages.

If any one is interested, here's the link for the discussion group on ancestry which contains our back and forth. Right now it's public, and hopefully can remain so.

Trip, Day 1

Our trip starts with cousin Marjorie taking a Jet Blue flight from Boston to Dulles International. This is the first involvement with air travel I've had since retiring, over 10 years ago. Furthermore, hurricane Kyle has rushed north and is shown off the Massachusetts coast. So, to be sure I meet her timely, I log onto Jet Blue's website. I find not only does it show the status of the flight (on time), but after take-off it shows where in the air the flight is. She's shown over New York, which must be the result of the hurricane, because I'm sure the normal routing is straighter, down the coast.

I used to fly regularly out of Dulles, which is just a few miles west of Reston. But in the years since, they've spent billions on adding parking and parking garages, new concourses, extending the terminal. The terminal is one of my favorite buildings--"modern architecture" mostly doesn't have good connotations for me, but Saarinen's building is always a pleasure to look at. Today, though, I'm too panicked to enjoy the flight, trying to be sure I navigate the changes. The traffic layout is less changed than the building entrance, though, still the loop around the daily parking lot and the terminal building, but the entrance allows for an underground walkway to the baggage claim level. The weather's humid and threatening, but no rain at the moment.

Marjorie comes through (her trip was rerouted over Syracuse, she napped because it was cloudy all the way down), and it's back to Reston. I point out the skyline, Reston actually has a skyline, and we're back home to pick up Lisa. The three of us drive to a Panera, which we discover also has outlets in the Boston area, and have a light lunch. Lisa will stay on, meeting some fellow knitters for the afternoon while Marjorie and I start traveling back into the past. Lisa gives me strict orders on when to put the chicken in the over, which sets an outer limit on the extent of our travel.

[Preceding typed early 29th, rest in evening, at the end of a tiring day]
We go down the toll road, and around the Beltway (inside which all that's important happens), with me providing bits of information as we go. We find Marjorie's old home in University Park, and she gets to go inside and find out what happened there since she left 55 years ago. [Teaser:--much.]

Get back in car, find the old church, drive though Bladensburg (site of battle) and see Celtic cross, drive through DC and out TR bridge, onto Rte 66 and Dulles Toll road and so to home, pop chicken in over, pick up Lisa, she finishes preparing dinner, we talk, Marjorie describes her father's work on chicken (need to tie this into a post on food) and her honeymoon in Naples when no one knew where she was. After take her to her hotel , come back and pack.

[Updated--errors corrected]

Trip, Day 2

Woke early and couldn't get back to sleep, so started the Trip Day 1 post. Picked Marjorie up at 7:45, drove through rush hour traffic that was less bad than I expected, from DC to Baltimore to Havre de Grace (pronounced "Grah", BTW.) Then off I95 to PA route 222 to the site of the Robert Fulton birthplace. Hugh Rippey's land, to the best of my belief, lies just across the Conowingo Creek from the Fulton place. My preparations throughout the day were disappointingly incomplete, but a rescuer appeared.

Just as we'd found the Fulton house and parked, a man and a woman pulled in by us and stopped by the garden. As it turned out, they were planning to weed in the garden, but the woman was [?head} of the Southern Lancaster Historical Society, whose building was just across the highway from the Fulton house. She kindly let us in the building, showed us the files, gave dirctions, and generally was of immense help. Bottomlines:

• although the Blacks were big in the area, the local researcher had been able to trace back to a Thomas Black and son Robert born in 1770. They didn't seem to tie to our Moses and Aaron Blacks, but we shall see.
• Mary Rippey was buried in the Morrison cemetary--she's 1747-17??, so likely was Captain John's older sister. To be researched.
• Also the McIntires in the cemetery, though we've still not clarified the interrelationships with Rippeys, etc.

We were successful in finding the Hugh Rippey farm, I'm confident (though I've been overly confident before) and possibly a house location. The current house, a very nice one, seems likely to have been built on the same site as a prior one--a sort of knoll over the lower creek valley (reminds me of the farm in North Fenton, which may be why I'm so convinced it's Hugh's--verrry logical.]

We came upon a good country restaurant on route 272, just northeast of the area, where we had a good, cheap lunch.

I'm sure I can blame the meal for interfering with good thinking, because after eating we started being less successful. We were not successful in finding the Morrison cemetery--it's off the road in a farmer's field and all we could see was corn. (Amazing to think of corn being grown on the land for 265 years, not to mention the years Native Americans may have grown corn there before.) We may have found the Mathew Rippey land site, more difficult because there are multiple tributaries of Fishing Creek that could qualify as the straight line.

We found the current Chestnut Level church (twice, actually, we got lost a bit and Someone may have tried to give us a Message). Then we crossed the Susquehanna into York County where our luck ran out and no rescuing angel appeared. We did find the Hively road and corner where I've noted that Captain John Rippey had land. I need to doublecheck the basis for that conclusion. The land near the river is very rugged and broken up, so it's difficult to see it as good farmland, though the Hively place was nice.

We found the current Chanceford Presbyterian church, and its graveyard, though I don't know of any ancestors who may be buried there (possibly Stewart cousins later). We missed the original Chanceford cemetery, so we agreed it was time to head west. I can revisit York and/or Lancaster as a day trip in the future, when I've got a better grasp on the materials, topography, and history.

So we traveled through York to the PA Turnpike and out to the Breezewood interchange, where we're spending the night.

[Note: editorial changes on Oct. 20, plus embedding slide show]

Hypothesis

The Walking Purchase

Buddy's Bemusings reminds me of "The Walking Purchase"

Southern Lancaster County Historical Society

The nice lady (I missed her name, as I often do, but she's either president or secretary) at the Society was very helpful on our visit. Here's a link.

History of Ontario County, New York With Ilustrations and Family Sketches of Some of the Prominent Men and Families By Lewis Cass Aldrich, George Stillwell Conover

History of Ontario County, New York With Ilustrations and Family Sketches of Some of the Prominent Men and Families By Lewis Cass Aldrich, George Stillwell Conover: ""

A History of Ontario County, New York and Its People By Charles F. Milliken, Lewis Historical Publishing Co

A History of Ontario County, New York and Its People By Charles F. Milliken, Lewis Historical Publishing Co: ""

A History of Ontario County, New York and Its People By Charles F. Milliken, Lewis Historical Publishing Co

A History of Ontario County, New York and Its People By Charles F. Milliken, Lewis Historical Publishing Co: ""