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2004-04-15 - 1:04 p.m. Ha! Back again -- Nora's been doing a project for school that involves tracing her geneaology. It's kind of interesting. My grandmother, whose ancestors came from Scotland by way of Canada, has compiled a huge scrapbook. I'm supposed to be transferring it to acid-free paper. Really, it's been sitting in a box on my bedroom floor for three years. But it was extremely useful. Some of them came in about 1800, and some about 1850, and we have lots of information about them. About my grandfather we have almost nothing, except that they came from Ireland. On my father's side, his father's family stretches back to the 1600s (we're related to John Alden, Priscilla Mullein, two other Mayflower people, and a witch!) and we know absolutely nothing about his mother's side of the family. I could find out more, and I should before they all die. Kevin's father has done extensive research into his father's side of the family (they have a better name!) but they, like his mother, came from Ireland. And his mother, although she has a Scottish name, is pretty much English, and they seem to have all come to Massachusetts in the 1700s. It's sort of interesting and capricious who we know about. She's supposed to figure out why they came, and really, with the exception of the Mayflower people, there's really no telling. Perhaps they were all thieves and had to leave or be hung. Who knows? The Irish people were all too late for it to be famine related. I think mostly they came because they thought it would be better. The Scottish-Canadians seemed to occupy themselves cutting down trees. My 1690 guy probably came to be a fisherman. Kevin's Scottish guy may have come because Scotland was pretty grim in 1790. He's probably from the Highlands, and I think it was particularly grim there. My Scottish relatives are all from the lowlands. I think some were weavers. I think they were poor and looking for a way out. Strangely, I have a ton of relatives (fairly distant) in Maine. My branch of the family seemed to head west after the civil war. Anyway -- that's what we've been up to. It's all over the dining room table. Maddy is deep in the prehistory of Polynesia. Okay. Got to go. Bye.
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