Surname Saturday - Maternal New England/ NY State

My Maternal New York State & New England 
Ancestry Surnames

See any familiar names here? We may be related!

My mother was born and raised in Upstate New York. Mom's father, Raymond Hirst, was from Philadelphia; her mother, Ethel Dyer, came from a long line of early New England and New York State families. Some members of grandma's family tree crossed the border back and forth to Canada - living at times in US and at other times in Ontario, Canada. These are some of the surnames I've found in my direct line while working on my maternal grandmother's part of my family tree (in alphabetical order):

Barnard, Barrett, Brownell, Burleigh, Carpenter, Claghorn, Crofoot, Dodge, Dyer, Gardiner, Gorham, Greene, Hall, Hamby, Hartwell, Hawes, Hewes,Howland, Hutchinson, Johnson, Marbury, Nichols, Niles, Odding, Sayles, Sherman, Smith, Spink, Spooner, Tilley, Walker,Warner, Williams, Wood


Surnames for my paternal side of my family tree can be found in this earlier blog post: Click Here,

Family Recipe Friday - Apple Pie (Cobbler)

Apple Pie

Even though this is called "Apple Pie" on the recipe card, it is actually a cobbler. This is the first recipe I ever made from scratch about 50 years ago as a young girl. The recipe was from the homemade recipe collection cookbook my mother began when she was a newlywed in 1955. It was typed on an index card, given to her by a former coworker.

6 to 8 medium apples, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon (more if you prefer)
1 large egg
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup sifted flour
6 tablespoons melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. chopped nutmeats (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9" pyrex pie plate. Fill with the peeled and sliced apples. Over the top of the apples, sprinkle with 1/2 cup sugar plus cinnamon mixture.

In a bowl, beat 1 egg. Add 1/2 cup sugar and beat. Add 3/4 cup sifted flour and beat. Add 6 tablespoons of melted butter and 1 tsp. vanilla and beat. Optional - stir in 1/2 cup chopped nutmeats.

Pour and spread the mixture over the top of the fruit. Bake for 50 mins or less, until the top is a nice golden brown.

(drained canned apple slices - NOT apple pie filling - can be substituted for fresh apples in a pinch)

Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday - Whither Thou Goest...

OK, so it's Not-Quite-Wordless Wednesday

My Maternal Grandparents

Raymond & Ethel (Dyer) Hirst

North Watertown Cemetery

Watertown, Jefferson County, New York

 

Married on May 21, 1926, Raymond died of a heart attack on December 17, 1965. A heart broken Ethel followed him just four months later, dying of heart failure on April 26, 1966. 

Military Monday - Grandpa Raymond Hirst

My maternal grandfather, Raymond Hirst 

US Army Cavalry

stationed at Madison Barracks,

Sackets Harbor, Jefferson County, NY

This photo was taken while he had the rank of Corporal. He was later promoted to Sergeant F. A. (Field Artillery). He was in the cavalry at the time the Army was in the final stages of transitioning from using horses in the battlefield to going all motorized. My mother tells me that on occasion as a young girl, her mother would take her and her siblings to the barracks parade ground and they would get to watch their father perform maneuvers on horseback. 

As a corporal, Raymond married a local girl. Even though Raymond was originally from Philadelphia PA, when he left the Army, he and his family stayed in Jefferson County and raised their family near his wife's kin in Upstate New York. He became the patriarch of a family with a tradition of military service. Raymond and his wife had 2 daughters and 7 sons who survived to adulthood. Of those seven sons, six went on to serve in the military. Each of the two daughters married servicemen stationed at nearby Fort Drum. Raymond was born in 1902 and died in 1965.

Sentimental Sunday - 5 Generations, Same Church

St. John's Church

Mt. Aetna, Berks County, PA

 View of St. John's from the far end of the cemetery

(photo taken 25 September 2010 by Karen Fox)

St. John's Church is a small intimate country church. It was originated as a Protestant Reformed Congregation, and for many years was associated with the United Church of Christ. In 2003,  it elected to become an independent, non-denominational Christian Church. This was the church of my paternal family for five generations.

Buried in the adjoining church cemetery are

• my gr-gr-grandparents, Nathan and Elizabeth (Achenbach) Gruber
• my gr-grandparents, T.(Thomas) Henry and Mary E. (Gruber) DeHart
• my grandparents, Earl L. and Ada M. (DeHart) Yohn
• my father, John Henry Yohn
• I  [Karen M. (Yohn) Fox] was baptized as an infant in St. John's Church in 1958.

In addition, many extended family members were baptized, confirmed, married and/or buried at St. John's.

Interior view of St. John's sanctuary taken from rear right corner

(Photo taken 25 September 2010 by Karen Fox)

As a child I have many memories of visiting the cemetery to place flowers on my grandparents' grave (they both passed before I was born). When I'd see a familiar last name or an interesting looking tombstone, I'd always pester my father with questions -  "Who is that? Tell me about them!". He'd do his best, even if it belonged to a stranger. As I grew older, I saw the empty spaces in the cemetery slowly start to fill with relatives I knew and loved - my many gr-aunts and gr-uncles, my own aunts and uncles, my father's cousins, and then my father joined them. Visiting that cemetery is visiting my childhood.

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