Richard Sperry in Puzzilla

Puzzilla Ancestral Chart

January 8, 2019 - I'm back at the Family History Centre for my Tuesday evening shift - our first shift after the Christmas break and everything is breaking down on us. Makes for some excitement. My computer lost the network connection and none of my shortcuts or Chrome work. The lightbulbs in the computer room were burnt out and now the printer is offline.

But I'm busy with my latest discovery. I haven't looked at Puzzilla for some time and thought I would see how things were looking these days. I typically use this site to link to my FamilySearch tree and then explore the descendancy lines to fill in more of the collateral lines - cousins, aunts and uncles along my direct line.

This time I went directly to my Dad's line and looked at the ancestral chart.  Just a quick glance and it is obvious where I may need to do some clean up of duplicate relationships/names. (circled in green above)  This represents the families of the Richard Sperry (1606 - 1698) and his son Richard Sperry (1652-1734). I did some searching on this name as it was familiar and spent the next hour reading multiple websites recounting the history of the family in early America and the connection to two of  the 59 judges who signed the execution order for King Charles 1 and escaped to America to avoid a rather nasty execution - at some point taking shelter in what is now called "Judges Cave" near their home and being sustained by Richard Sperry or his son.

If you want to learn a little more, check out these two genealogical pages.

Richard Sperry in WikiTree
Richard Sperry in the Evans Family WebPage
Richard Sperry in CommonHeroes3

So instead of successfully cleaning up this issue with my tree, I enjoyed my time learning more about my ninth great grandparent.

That is okay because I am looking forward to learning more about how to clean up issues (merging records, restoring records and cleaning up the attached sources) in my FamilyTree on FamilySearch at the January 24th community class put on by the Family History Centre. Cleaning up records that have been duplicated, merged and have multiple links and problems is one of the most time consuming and often frustrating parts of dealing with a common family tree. A little extra help and information can help me avoid adding to the confusion. The class begins at 7:00 pm if you are interested in coming along. You can register ahead of time at http://genwebworks.net/cfhc.htm or just show up - you will be welcome!

If you are interested in learning how to use Puzzilla and setting up your own FamilyTree with a free FamilySearch account, drop by the Family History Centre - there are friendly volunteers here to help you.

Champion 100

This weekend is the 100th anniversary of Champion, Alberta.  Both of my parents are from Champion, Ron Rhodes and Sheila Puzey, and after spending most of my childhood summers and Christmases in Champion, I claim it as my own.  Pictures and more to come.

Preparing for the Rhodes Reunion

Looking forward to pulling out my history books and preparing for the weekend with family at Clear Lake near Stavely.  I ran across this blog on Vulcan County History and found a story about the Sanderson School.  You can check it out below. 

http://vulcancountyhistory.com/2010/10/sanderson-school-no-2210/

Racavan, County Antrim

and then I saw a bright light (ir)
Originally uploaded by skiwiman

The home of Sam the Butcher and Big Jenny. (Muirhead) This lane is the path to go to the graveyard... beginning to celebrate my Irish roots and must plan the trip there soon (2011??)

NEW information... on the Moorhead/Muirhead line

Pictures have been wonderful to find but the "meat and potatoes" still really is the names and dates. I was about to shut down the computer for the night but after looking at the family tree one last time I wondered if I might have some success if I just directly googled Moorhead(a spelling I had not used in past searches) and Racavan (where I now know the Moorhead family lived before Sam and Jennie's children immigrated to Canada.
BINGO! I found a family history site with details I had never known before! My line stopped at Elizabeth Davison - mother of Jennie in the previous blog. And here is her line. With her mother - Agnes McCloy and her father - William Davison. Even a street address for Sam and Jennie - likely the location of the home they are sitting in front of in the previous post! Okay - a trip to Ireland is definitely on the planner for 2010!
This information was posted in 1999! I had tried to do Muirhead research in the 80s and early 90s and then took a long break from searching. If I just had been looking for the right spelling in the right place - this wouldn't have taken me 10 years since it was posted to find it. A good example of how you can overlook checking on a line - with all the Rhodes names I've been focussing on - I hadn't really been looking for Muirheads for some time.
I've posted a small part of the information from this family site - Earls Family Chronicles or go directly there to see this laid out much more visually friendly. (only the direct line and the children of Sam and Jennie here - check out the link to see the whole family)
Agnes McCloy, also known as Nancy, was born about 1799. About 1828, she married farmer William Davison of Shillanavogy, parish of Racavan, County Antrim, born about 1799. The Davisons had lived in the parish of Racavan for some time; Andrew Davison of Ballygelly townland and James Davison of Broughshane Upper townland are both included in the 1669 Hearth Money Rolls. William and Nancy Davison lived out their lives on their farm in Shilnavogy. Their grandson Samuel used to visit James Earls and his sisters in Islandmagee, County Antrim. William died in Shilnavogy on Oct.27, 1874, at the age of 75; his son John was present at his death. Agnes died in Shilnavogy on Oct.7, 1877, aged 78. Her son William Davison of Shilnavogy was present at her death. William and Nancy Davison's children:

Eliza Davison was born in 1824. About 1842 she married William Muirhead or Moorhead, born in County Antrim about 1820. William was the son of John Muirhead and his wife, Jennie Mills, and inherited their farm called ``Hillhead'' in the townland of Ballynacaird, parish of Racavan, where he and Eliza lived out their lives. William died in Ballynacaird on Nov.11, 1886, at the age of 66; his son Andrew was present at his death. Eliza died in Ballynacaird on Feb.6, 1892; Andrew was also present at her death. An obituary which appearred in a local paper described her as ``quiet, amiable and unassuming''. Both William and Eliza are buried at Buckna Presbyterian Church, parish of Racavan. The children of William and Eliza Muirhead:

Jane Moorhead, known as Jennie, was born at ``Hillhead'' in 1843. About 1863 she married Samuel Moorhead, a farmer and travelling butcher. Samuel's parents were James Moorhead and his wife, Esther Jane McNeill. Samuel and Jane lived in Cravery near Kells for many years. Much later they moved back to the farm of their son, Thomas, at "Causeyend" in the townland of Kilnacolpagh, parish of Racavan. The present address for ``Causeyend'' is 21 Kilnacolpagh Road, Aughafatten, Ballymena. Jane died at ``Causeyend'' on May 31, 1913, and Samuel died there on Jan.2, 1934. They are buried in a family plot in Racavan cemetery. Jane and Samuel's children:

• James Moorhead was born in 1864 and died in 1889 at the age of 24.
• Sarah Jane Moorhead was born at ``Causeyend'', Kilnacolpagh, on Feb.12, 1866. On Jul.28, 1884, she married shoemaker William Millar Muirhead (or Moorhead) of Ballynacaird in the Second Presbyterian Church, Racavan. William had been born on Mar.1, 1861, in Teenis, County Antrim, the son of William Muirhead and his wife, Mary Ann Millar; he had a twin sister, Martha. William and Sarah Jane emigrated to Canada about 1890 and lived in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and British Columbia. William died in New Westminster, British Columbia, on Jul.30, 1921. Sarah Jane died in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Jul.23, 1939, and was buried in Ocean View Burial Park. William and Sarah Jane Muirhead had at least 12 children:
  
• Elizabeth Anne Moorhead, known as Lizzie, was born on Mar.22, 1871, and emigrated to Canada. On Jan.6, 1892, she married James Routly in Carberry, Manitoba. She died in July 1955 in Calgary, Alberta.
• 
  Thomas Moorhead was born at ``Causeyend'' on Apr.16, 1875, and inherited the farm from his Aunt Sally. He lived and farmed there for the rest of his life. He married Margaret McAuley whose father James was a blacksmith and whose mother was Eliza Rea, born Dec.3, 1854. Thomas died at ``Causeyend'' on Apr.10, 1942. Thomas and Margaret had nine children all born at ``Causeyend'' as follows:
  
• Mary Moorhead, born on Mar.9, 1872, married a man named Departy[this seems odd] and died of Ptomain poisoning when she was quite young.
• 
  Andrew Moorhead was born on Jun.6, 1879, and emigrated to Canada. He married Elizabeth Mary Martin and died in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Nov.23, 1950.
• 
  Esther Moorhead, born on Jan.21, 1877, married William McCleary.
• 
  Margaret Moorhead emigrated to Canada and, on Sep.5, 1904, was married in Fernie, British Columbia, to William John Sanderson.
• 
  Jack Moorhead emigrated to Canada. He married a woman named Betsy and died in Montana, USA, at the age of 94.
• 
  Martha Moorhead was born on Apr.9, 1885, and emigrated to Canada. She was married twice, her first husband being Jack Allison. She emigrated to USA with her second husband George F. Logan and died in Toppenish, Washington, in 1987 at the age of 102.
• 
  Samuel Moorhead was born in 1883 and emigrated to Canada where he took part in the Yukon gold rush of 1898 and then emigrated to USA. He died unmarried in Washington in 1958 at the age of 75.
• 
  Jennie Moorhead emigrated to America. She married George Rhodes and died in the U.S.A.

I think there is a mistake happening here. Jennie died in Calgary and is buried next to George here in the city. It is George's mother that passed while in the states - visiting one of her children in Oregon.
The formatting for this blog is pretty wonky. I will have to learn HTML before I can make it look better than this. Thanks to Christopher Earls Brennan for posting on the Earls Family Chronicles. I will explore this more now that I have truly stumbled across it!!

Sam and Jenny Muirhead

Sam and Jenny at their home in Antrim, Ireland

Sam the Butcher and Big Jenny

Until now, I'd only seen one picture of Sam and Jenny Muirhead.

Sam "the butcher" - with his wife Jane sitting in front of their home in Antrim, Ireland. (I'm sure that means he was a real butcher... nothing sinister in the nickname... I hope). But now, I have a new picture of this couple -such good news as photos are something really precious on my Dad's line - I think that is partly due to losing everything in the Fernie fire when the Rhodes line Great grandparents first came to Canada. Here is a picture of them found on Ancestry.com posted by M_McKague. I love that I can see other pictures of these relatives I have come to know as names and dates in my records. Someday I hope to visit Ireland and visit the villages where they lived.