"It's on North Dakota"

It takes 17 hours (according to Google Maps) to travel from Fountain County, IN to Mountrail, North Dakota.  They are two different worlds.  The more I learn about North Dakota, and think about how living outside of Indiana was hard for me (60 years later) the more I realize just how brave Grandma Smith had to be.


Today, just about 8000 people live in Mountrail County.  The Simonson's lived in Alger Township, where the 2010 census showed the population to be 34.  Yes, I did type that correctly.

I guess it is true that sometimes we have to leave our homes and our families, so make a better home for our future family.  Thanks, Grandma.  I miss you.

The Great Thanksgiving Dress Debate

There are times in your life when you can mark a change.  There is no going back.  those moments mark the transitions between what was, and what is.  Change can be scary.

My move from normal person to...this...can be connected back to Thanksgiving 2012. And it is my mother's fault.

Mystery Lady

We found this photo in the the boxes of Marr family things.  Certainly this was an maternal ancestor of Grandma Marr. The bottom showed a Fountain County Photography Studio.  There was giggling.   And sure enough, the back of the photo was helpfully labeled "Grandma Marr".  Which means the photo was either Hester Keefer Marr, or Molly Redman Marr.

However, it might have been Grandmas Smith who wrote the label, so the photo could realistically have been...anyone.  That's all part of the fun: hours of barking up the wrong family's tree.

Molly Redman Marr

We already had at least one photo of Molly Marr.  Even in the crummy capture here, she is captivating.  She looks so fragile, with her wasp waist, dark hair, and pale skin.

And here's where my world started to crack.  I spent hours pouring over books and websites detailing women's fashions in the late 19th century.  You might think that would be a short book: "They wore big dresses." And you would be WRONG. Sleeve styles, corsets, bustle height, background props, hair style, buttons, embellishments, photographic style...eight hours in I sought professional help in the Genealogy Department.  They wished my luck and told me I was doing the best things.

Enablers.

Jane Marr

Fast forward.  You do not need to know how far this went.

Christmas rolls around and Mom pulls out another old Marr photo box.  There is the dress.  The same damn dress.  Maybe.  The back of the picture says Aunt Jane Marr.

We count buttons. We judge pleats.  We use a magnifying glass.  We discuss and debate.  Jon decides that he is no longer interested in genealogy because it "sounds like a lot of work for no reason".

That had to be Molly Marr.  There was cheering. The cats hid.

We can make up a pretty good story about this dress.

To celebrate a big birthday (16? 18?) young Molly Redman, bought the dress of a lifetime.  Molly's real name was "Mary" but she had always gone by the nickname Molly, to distinguish her from her Aunt Mary Marr, who lived one farm over.  Molly had always had delicate health, which made farm life a challenge.

She traveled by dusty buggy to the photographer's studio: getting there and back would be an all day event.  But it was an event.  She wasn't a girl any more, and this picture marked that growing up.

When it was Jane Redman's turn for her coming of age portrait, buying a new dress seemed frivolous on the family's budget.  But was was creative and handy with a needle.  A few embellishments to keep up with the changing trends, and the dress was even better than before.

Common Name Headaches

Let's find out more about John Marr! He's from Ireland! He lived in Maryland! Magic computer find him!

I wish it would be that easy. do you know how many freaking John Marrs there ARE from Ireland?  Billions.  I just want to find out when he emigrated. 

John Marr was born about 1812 and left Ireland for America sometime before 1832.  John Marr was 20 years old in 1832 and was busy getting married in February of that year, so I assume he immigrated at least before New Year's (and knowing the rep of fiery Irish passions I did check for a a shotgun wedding.  Luckily we are safe from scandal in that department).

1830 Census records show a John Marr in Baltimore and one in Charles with 5 people under their roofs.  Probably not my John Marrs.  There are plenty of other John Marrs (22!?!?!?!) throughout the growing country.  This is going to take a lot of digging and a boatload of luck.

John Marr-crossing my fingers for this dude

The super-awesome Hagerstown, MD library historian suggested that I look for John Marr in Philadelphia Passenger lists.  I just assumed that there was a good chance that if you immigrated to Maryland your port of entry would be Baltimore. 

I have a bee in my bonnet that he immigrated between the ages of 16 and 18.  Maybe I dreamed about that.  Dreams are a TOTALLY VALID form of research.  Or maybe I read that in the Beckwith book. 

Family Search has a passenger list from Philadelphia in 1828 that started me cheering

"Smuggled himself on board"?!?!

Please let this be my John Marr. And let me figure out how in the heck to prove it.

What's in a Name?

I spent a good deal of time debating (at least 15 minutes) what to call this blog.  My hope is to chronicle my journey to insanity, obsession, keeping the postal service alive with my SASEs, discovering more about our family history. 

A genealogist I can't claim to be.  I'm definitely not a blogger, since I can't seem to keep my tumblr updated and all that contains are pictures of my cat. 

But maybe this will be a way to keep my thoughts organized and to share with the other people who are interested (note to self: find people who are interested).

But look at my Bubby!  Isn't he the cutest cat ever?????