How Did I Get Here? My Amazing Genealogy Journey

Cambridge High and Latin High School Yearbook Photo Cambridge, Massachusetts. Year:  1942. Source Information Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Dorothy Thelma Pierce  Amy Johnson Crow, the author of the blog No Story Too Small, is the host of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Blog Prompt series. If you are not familiar with the project please click on the following link:   Announcing 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2015 Edition. Week 35 (August 27 – September 2) – School Days: Many kids have returned to school by this time. What do you know about your ancestors’ school days? Do you have any yearbooks? Have you found him or her in a local school census? I decided to go along with this week's prompt because I love this yearbook picture I found of a cousin of mine and this seemed like the perfect time to share it. The picture is of my 2nd cousin 2x removed, Dorothy ...

As I mentioned at the end of my post,  52 Ancestors: Hester Harris Pierce --My 2nd Great Grand Aunt , I was able to find leads on what became of couple of her siblings while I was looking researching newspaper articles on Hester and her husband. Just as a refresher I'll mention that Hester Harris Pierce was the daughter of my 3rd great grandfather Bristow Harris from Wilmington and New Bern, NC. I am a descendant of Bristow's second family who lived in New Bern, NC through his daughter Sarah Harris Whitney . Bristow Harris's second family consisted of Lemuel T Harris , Sarah's brother and Amy Brown Harris , Sarah and Lemuel's mother. Hester Harris Pierce was their 1/2 sister who was born in Wilmington. Lemuel Harris became a waiter who settled in Boston, MA. Whatever became of Bristow Harris's other children that were from Wilmington? Here's a clue on one of them. The New York Age,  July 4, 1907. And just like that I had found the key to...

John W. Weeks Footbridge, Cambridge MA Image courtesy of Wikipedia:  John W. Weeks Footbridge, shot 2006-03-31 by User:Scs I found myself looking up the meaning of my 3rd great grandfather's first name the other night. His name was Bristow Harris and he was the father of Hester Harris Pierce, my 2nd great grand aunt. I think the meaning of his name has some significance considering some recent finds I've made in my research. Here's a definition of the name Bristow, I found on a website called ThinkBabyNames.com . Bristow \b-ris-tow, br(i)-stow\ as a boy's name has the meaning "meeting place by the bridge" and is a variant of Bristol (Old English), place name: an ancient and important city in England, with one of the most important ports on the west coast. Now why might I bring this up as I start to talk about Hester Harris?  Bristow Harris I consider to be the bridge linking me to kin who settled in Massachussetts. Hester Harris was the daughter of...