Thursday, December 26, 2019

John Tanner Documents at The Joseph Smith Papers

The Joseph Smith Papers continues to identify and catalogue papers about the life of Joseph Smith. Their biographical entry for John Tanner has quite a few new entries. I've added links or images of the important items to John Tanner's FamilySearch page. Here's a promissory note that shows John Tanner's signature:


Here's a screen shot of the listed documents:


JS and 30 others, Promissory Note, Kirtland Township, Geauga Co., OH, to Holbrook & Ferme, [New York City, New York Co., NY], 1 Sept. 1837; handwriting of William Perkins; signatures of authors; two pages; Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, OH. The Joseph Smith Papers, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/promissory-note-to-holbrook-ferme-1-september-1837-a/2.

Sunday, June 23, 2019

The Wessman Home in Göteborg

If you were to visit today, this is the Swedish neighborhood where the Wessman family lived in the 1880s through the 1890s. It appears to have been greatly gentrified.


The Swedish Household Examination Books are an excellent genealogical source. Here is the page for the Wessmans. Their entry begins on the top line.


Here is the first part of the entry for the family.


It lists each member of the family with names, exact birth and marriage dates, whether they'd been vaccinated for smallpox (everyone but the baby), and their religious status.

Amanda and Johan Wessman and baby.

Officials updated the entry yearly. This is the second page showing the name of the neighborhood on the top, Skolgatan 13 and Nygatan 23 (see that corner in the Google Streetview above).


It records their previous residence. If I'm reading it right, they moved within the city to their current location on November 5, 1884. The last columns show Johan moving to a different location and Amanda and the rest of the family moving to America.

"Sweden, Household Examination Books, 1880-1930," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QLP2-T36M : 5 April 2019), Johan Westman, from 1885 to 1895; from "Sweden Household Examination Books, 1860-1920," database and images, MyHeritage(https://www.myheritage.com : n.d.); citing from 1885 to 1895, 12842981, Haga AI 6, various Lutheran parishes, Sweden.

Sunday, May 12, 2019

A Matrilineal Chart for Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! For the occasion, here is a chart of matrilineal descent, with pictures where possible. I have joked before that my matrilineal line goes straight back to Scotland, and that's where I got all my qualities of frugality and thrift. (This post is originally from May 2011, here updated and republished.)

My mother with her mother, Beverly Lucille Glade Wessman (1924–2008). Grandmother Beverly was a friendly and hospitable woman and enjoyed spending time with her large extended family.

Beverly's mother was Lucy Lucile Green Glade (1898–1980). She lived in Salt Lake City her entire life and liked to travel during her long widowhood.

Lucile's mother was Mary Isabell Pettit Green (1866–1905). We have a copy of her charming diary from when she was dating her husband. She died from complications of childbirth, and left several young children.

Mary's mother was Rebecca Hood Hill Pettit (1845–1922). She liked to tell the story that when she was a teenager she was so sick that the doctor told her she would never have children. She had fourteen, plus her three step-children.


Rebecca's mother was Isabella Hood Hill (1821–1847). She was born and married in Canada, and died as a young mother and Mormon refugee at Winter Quarters, near today's Omaha, Nebraska.

Isabella's mother was Margaret Bisland Hood (1791–1856). Born in Glasgow, Scotland, she and her husband emigrated to Canada in 1820 with the Lanark Society Settlers.

Margaret's mother was Agnes Pollack Bisland or Bilsland (1762–1842) of Glasgow, Scotland. Agnes's mother may have been Jean Glass Pollack, and her mother may have been Marjorie Geddes Glass, but there does not appear to be any comprehensive and reliable research on these families.


The picture of Rebecca Hill Pettit is from FamilySearch, courtesy of Sharon Wilbur. The next picture is from a family collection and is said to be Isabella Hood Hill and is historically possible, but the exact source of the attribution and any knowledge of the existence of the original has been lost to time. The picture from the gate of the Winter Quarters Pioneer Cemetery where Isabella Hood Hill is buried is from Flickr, courtesy of Dan McLean. The picture of Margaret Hood's gravestone in Creemore Union Cemetery, Simcoe, Norfolk, Ontario, is from FindAGrave, courtesy of Jan Darby. The photo of the Glasgow Cathedral is from Pixabay. 

Thursday, April 11, 2019

"Twittertonians"

This came up through a hint on Ancestry. This is from the East High School yearbook from 1941 showing Beverly Glade (Wessman) and her cousin Patricia Glade (Curtis) participating in a number of school activities including "Twittertonian." Any suggestions what that was? Definitely not connected to today's Twitter!