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John Joseph “JJ” Carroll: Overcoming the Odds

(Illustration above: New York City in 1851)  “What place is this, to which the squalid street conducts us? A kind of square of leprous houses, some of which are attainable only by crazy wooden stairs without. What lies behind this tottering flight of steps?…This is the place; these narrow ways diverging to the right and left, and reeking everywhere with dirt and filth…See how the rotten beams are tumbling down, and how the patched and broken windows seem to scowl...

Mathew Conlan: Death by Gravel?

La Grande Famine, Illustrated in London News by Smyth, 1847. May they feel the warmth of a tear! May they hear the piper’s lament, May they know we, the survivors, keep vigil. irish tenant farmers Mathew Conlan was born in 1795 in the North Connaught region of Ireland to John and Anna Conlan, poor farmers near the town of Sligo. Similar to the Husmann in Norway, Irish tenant farmers rented land from wealthy landowners, primarily English and Scottish supporters of Elizabeth...

Gregoire Deblois: Our First Gregoire in the New World

View of Chateau-Richer and the Île d’ Orléans, Québec (1787) by Thomas Davies french roots Gregoire Deblois was born in the small village of Champagne-Mouton, France to Francois Deblois and Marguerite Papelong. The year of his birth, 1632, brought welcome peace after decades of tension between the Huguenots (French Protestants) and Catholic King Louis XIII, which culminated in the Siege of La Rochelle, a nearby shipping port. french Dit Names As the progenitor of our Gregoire family in North America,...

Laughlin McLaren and Celia Ann Losh: A Short Valentine Story

Laughlin McLaren was born in Greenock, Scotland and immigrated to America around 1849 with his family.  It was a mysterious dream that resulted in meeting his wife, Celia Ann Losh. Laughlin and Celia’s nephew, Earl Clinton Burnside, shared the story of how they met and a bit about their lives. According to Earl, after losing a pair of horses, Kate (Celia’s sister) had a dream about where the horses would be. In her dream, she walked along Cedar Creek until she came...

George Gordon: Naming Historic Georgetown

City of Washington from Beyond the Navy Yard by George Cooke, 1833 Visitors to Washington, D.C. today appreciate historic Georgetown for its cobblestone sidewalks, great food, walkable shopping and grand homes. As part of our capital city, it would be easy to assume that Georgetown was named in honor our first President, George Washington, but that is likely not the case since he was a young boy when Georgetown was established. There are a few theories about how the city...

Eliza (Sherlock) Duffy: A Young Mothers Determination

“In Heaven a noble work was done when God gave man a Mother”. -old Irish proverb Stories of the valor of frontier men during America’s colonization are fairly common. However, the achievements of frontier women are seldom heard. As a businesswoman and mother, Eliza Duffy’s accomplishments, during a time when a woman’s identity was derived entirely through their spouse, were extraordinary. coming to America Elizabeth “Eliza” Sherlock, was born April 27, 1821, to Thomas and Hannorah (White) Sherlock of Kings...

Charles Arch Sequichie, Jr: Stories of an Every Day Hero

Photo: A. Johnson and Archie Sequichie hero: 1. a person noted for courageous acts or nobility of character. 2. a person who, in the opinion of others, has special achievements, abilities, or personal qualities and is regarded as a role model or ideal. every day hero Occasionally we hear about someone who, for a moment, under exceptional circumstances, sets their personal comfort and safety aside to perform a heroic act…saving a child from a burning building or confronting a dangerous criminal. By all accounts, Charles “Arch” Sequichie, Jr. made self-sacrificing choices to serve others his entire life. In my mind, there is no greater hero than someone who puts the care, safety,...

Agnes (Conlin) Gregoire: The Storyteller

Photo of Agnes Gregoire “Nana” with me as a child “Did I ever tell you the story about…” At some point in every conversation with my grandmother, Agnes Gregoire, she would pose this rhetorical question. I have many happy memories of sitting on a barstool in “Nana’s” kitchen and listening to tales about her childhood in Montana. Her stories never bored me, but one day out of curiosity I answered her question by saying that I had indeed heard the...

The Storied Life and Death of Jacob Stookey : Nouegehaw

“When an Indian Child has been brought up among us, taught our language and habituated to our Customs, yet if he goes to see his relations and make one Indian Ramble with them, there is no perswading him ever to return, and that this is not natural [to them] merely as Indians, but as men, is plain from this, that when white persons of either sex have been taken prisoners young by the Indians, and lived a while among them, tho’...

Mary (Haselhaugen/Larson) Ove: A Compendium of Cookery

Food and family heritage One of the most precious objects I inherited from my mom’s side of the family is a well-worn recipe book from 1890, “The Compendium of Cookery and Reliable Recipes” which originally belonged to my second great-grandmother, Mary (Haselhaugen/Larson) Ove. Anyone who has visited my house knows how much I love to cook for family and friends, so this cookbook is truly a treasure to me. Mary was the daughter of Lars, “The Husmann”, who I recently wrote...