What if I told you I met somebody once who personally knew James Polk? Or Dred Scott? Or John Keats? Impossible, right? I mean, it’s 2016. These men were all born in the 1700’s.
And yet . . . it might have been possible, if not for two cases of tuberculosis and a nasty bout of cholera. I say this with confidence, not because I did the math, but because I experienced something similar once, albeit not involving anyone famous. It happened in early Fall of 1976, just a few weeks shy of my tenth birthday. A party was being held for my second great uncle, Ben, who was turning 96 — an impressive feat in its own right. My parents had taken us to the event, which was held at the old farmhouse where Uncle Ben spent most of his life, just a few miles away from where I grew up. Sadly, it was the only time I met him. He would pass a year and a half later.
I remember little of the party. I was a typical kid, not really wanting to be there at all, and not understanding its significance in the least. My brother, sister, and I spent the party running around like most of the other kids there, paying little attention to Uncle Ben, who looked ancient and stiff and unapproachable to me in his wheelchair. It wasn’t until we were leaving, in fact, that we even spoke a few words, after my father insisted that my siblings and I approach him, shake his hand, and wish him a happy birthday.
Only decades later did it occur to me that there was something remarkable about that handshake — only after doing a bit of research into our family’s history, which I’d never known much about growing up. You see, Uncle Ben actually knew my fourth great grandmother, Helen, who, along with her husband, Thomas, were the first in my direct line to immigrate to America. Thomas, an Englishman from Yorkshire, was born in 1792; Helen, from Northern Scotland, in 1795 — the same year as Polk, Scott, and Keats.
That Uncle Ben knew my fourth great grandmother, in itself, defied odds. Uncle Ben was born in 1880, nine years after Thomas had already passed. But Helen was still kicking, a “mere” 85 at his birth. Like Ben would after her, Helen lived well into her ’90’s, eventually passing away in 1889 at the age of 94. She lived on the old Fearnside homestead, within walking distance of Ben, who would have bounced on her knee as a baby, and known her as “grandma” until roughly nine. In her later years, at least, they appear to have shared the same home.
The fact that Ben was born with an 85 year old grandmother is yet another unlikely piece of the story — only possible because he was the youngest child of the youngest surviving child of Helen and Thomas, a sequence that had the effect of stretching out two generations over an 80-plus year span that might otherwise have contained four.
And so, there you have it: I once met someone who knew my fourth great grandmother, Helen, born in Scotland in 1795. That’s one handshake spanning three lives and over 221 years and counting. If only I had had the ability and foresight to pick old Uncle Ben’s brain when I had the chance. What stories might he have been able to tell me?
And I can’t help wondering if Uncle Ben, who was roughly the same age I was at the time when his grandma Helen passed away, had any more foresight than me? Did he get to know Helen and her stories — of growing up in Northern Scotland, meeting the Englishman, Thomas, immigrating to America, and pioneering the Great Black Swamp of Northwest Ohio? Or did she appear too old and stiff and unapproachable to his nine year old self? There’s a lesson in all of this, I know, which, unfortunately in my case, has roots in regret.
So, how much history have you spanned with a hug or a handshake? I’d love to hear any similar stories.
Thanks!
– T
Photo Credit: “Old Man Sitting in the Park,” RAFFAEL HERRMANN, located on creativecommons.org (public domain photos), with special thanks to my friend, Janet Givens for making me aware of the site. Please check out Janet’s excellent website and thoughtful blog at http://janetgivens.com .
Tim, you’ve touched on something I’ve toyed with for the last 12 years, ever since my first granddaughter was born. I keep wishing that my granddaughter could meet and know my maternal grandmother, the one who died when my granddaughter’s father was five months old. I am the link between these two. How to connect them. It challenges me. And may be the motivation I need for the next book. We’ll see where that goes. And btw, I have ties to northern Scotland too, on my father’s side. I’ve gone back as far as 1635 and was struck by how many Janets line the family tree.
Thanks for a provocative post.
Thanks, Janet – I like the idea of trying to connect your granddaughter to your grandmother, with you being a “bridge” between them. Surely, you are, whether or not their lives otherwise directly intersected. Put me down for a pre-order if you ever decide to pursue it as a book!
As you know I have done a lot of family research but haven’t done much of late. I enjoyed you article and I guess in an act of serendipity, we had Uncle Ben’s grandson stop unexpectedly at the house and we exchanged family info. He had a lot of stories about time spent at the house and fond memories.
Wow – what are the odds of that happening the same week I posted this? Funny, how the world seems to line up now and again. I would have liked to have been there to ask him some questions. Was this one of Henry’s sons? Thanks for reading and weighing in, Ma!
His mother was Ben’s daughter. She married and moved to Findlay. His father did a lot of family research but he was surprised by how much I had. I gave him my book to look over and he left his info with me and we’ll get back together again next week. So if you have any questions, let me know.
Thanks, Ma – ‘will do. Off the top of my head, I’d be curious to know anything about Helen and Thomas, Henry Clay, and those generations of Fearnsides — not just who was born and when, etc., but anything about their actual lives, their histories, occupations, etc. I’d also like to know more about the Fearnsides in Wood County, where they all lived, how they spread out, etc. I.e., where were the old homes located, and who lived where? I.e., when was Ben’s old farmhouse built? Did Helen ever live there? When did the original Fearnside house get torn down? How did Thomas pass away? What was he like? What was Helen like? Why did they emigrate? Why did Thomas leave England for Scotland?
I know he may not know most of this stuff, and I know this is a lot of questions. I guess I’m just interested in the history, the stories, and the geography as much or more than the actual genealogy. Anything you might be able to pass along would be great!
It is mostly dates, marriages etc. However, I found this article interesting but it is long. It doesn’t say what paper it is from nor the date it was published but it was written after her death.
It is about Anna Sizer Fearnside who is related through marriage but some of it reads: “When in 1880, we moved from Tiffin, O. to the Cass corners, Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Sizer lived about one mile to the northwest with their three children. Daniel, Abram and Anna. Daniel may have been married at this time. An older daughter having been married to Anson A. some time before.
Anna E. at this time a beautiful and graceful girl of about 17, tall, straight, very fair complexioned, a picture of refinement which she was then and remained so all her long and useful life.
At this time about one mile, cross lots, to the northeast lived Thomas Fearnside with his wife. He a typical Englishman and his wife a thorough Scotch woman. (I have to wonder what that means) Both of the highest type of citizens, with them lived their son Henry, then about 25. Henry was a very intelligent and hard working young man. He did the farming and took good care of his aged parents. There was another occupant of the house, a little boy of six. Frank Haskins , who was a grandchild. His mother having been a Fearnside, who died, leaving two boys George and Frank.
Because of Frank, I became very well acquinted as I was in the Fearnside home much of the time ever since–as I grew older I became very interested in the farming of Henry Fearnside because he was an ideal farmer for that early day.
About the year 1862 Anna Sizer taught our school, in the little red school house, situated on the now Nevils farm and I commenced going to school for the first as did also Frank Haskins. Her dignity as a teacher was inspiring , even to a small boy. We all loved her. I still continued to visit Frank in the home of the dear old Scotch woman Mrs. Thomas Fearnside.
I remember well about 1865 when Anna Sizer and Henry Fearnside were married and how Anna Sizer became the dignified mistress of the Fearnside home, though at this time the elder Mrs. Fearnside was still very active.
However, she lived to be very old and became a great care, but Anna was always equal to the emergency, and this was while Anna was raising her children.
In later years three of her children, Martha, George (your great grandfather), and William became my scholars in school, for several years, Benjamin being too young. Her children were exceptional students, both in work and demeanor.
I wish to say in closing, Mrs Fearnside has been my ideal of a Mrs., a mother, a homemaker and a citizen. Liberty Township loses one of her very best.
H. B. Sayler
Thanks, Mom – great stuff! This would lend credence to the theory that Benjamin shared a home with Helen in her latter years. I’m wondering what house this was? It seems to paint Anna and Henry as intelligent, hard working, and decent people — nice qualities to have in ancestors :). I’m a bit confused by the date at the beginning, where the author notes that he moved from outside Tiffin to the “Cass Corners” in “1880.” Surely, this was earlier than that, but I wonder how much earlier? It refers to Henry taking care of his “elderly parents” but my information shows Thomas passing away relatively young, at the age of roughly ’49, prior to 1850. Some clarity around the dates would be helpful. Do you know what he refers to as the “Cass Corners?”
Sorry they moved in 1860. Thomas was born in 1792 and died in 1871 at the age of 79. Helen was born in 1795 and died in 1889 at the age of 94. I don’t know where Cass Corners was but in Liberty Township somewhere.
Ah, this makes much more sense. I got my information on Thomas from this site, which seems to have done a good bit of homework on the Fearnside line. You should definitely check it out if you haven’t, although it does list Thomas’ date of death as 1841, rather than 1871.
http://www.hirab.co.uk/fearntree1.html
Tim,
Perhaps what you wrote runs in the genes, I’ve worked as an interpretive park ranger. When people told me that things were way distant in time to be relevant or change happens too slowly, I would ask them if they have ever seen someone 100 years old. If they answer yes, I would tell them that when that person was born there was someone living then who was 100. So, with in the span of two lives, you’re looking at the early 1800’s and think of all the changes they saw and was it really that long ago.
In regards to genes, I am the great-great-great grandson of Helen Fearnside through her son John. He had two daughters, Lilly and Flora. Lilly was my great grandmother. Her father John dropped the “a” and used Fernside after the Civil War (my guess is this is how he was recorded into the Union Army and once the paperwork goes through, it is hard to change).
I don’t know if you have read this before, but this is from a history of Wood County, Ohio. I think most decedents of Thomas and Helen Fearnside will enjoy it. (Page 553)
http://preview.tinyurl.com/gwpb7j9
Kenneth – thanks much for reading, and for taking the time to drop me this kind note. There aren’t a ton of us Fearnsides out there, and it’s nice to encounter someone connected to the name, particularly, someone in my direct line. I suppose this makes us distant cousins of some sort (?).
Thanks, too, for the link. I had, in fact, seen this before, however, it was good to re-read it, as it had been several years. I notice the biography lists John as being a resident of Toledo. I’m curious, do you have Toledo connections, yourself? I grew up in Bowling Green, just 25 miles south, only a few miles from the original Fearnside homestead, although I suppose you already knew that, having just read this piece. ‘Very interesting to read how the “a” got dropped from John’s name.
I’d be interested in any further information you have, if you ever feel like sharing more!
Thanks again, and best regards,
Tim
Sorry, I have not replied sooner. Yes, I have a lot of ties to Toledo. Both sides of my family are from the town and I still have cousins who live there. As for Bowling Green, my grandmother was a graduate of the university when it was Bowling Green State Normal School.
You can contact me anytime if you have any questions.
Thanks, Kenneth. I appreciate your comments. While I’ve done a bit of family research, someday, I’d like to dig into it more, in earnest. When I do, I’ll be sure to reach out. Best regards, and thanks again! – T