Is it possible that I can get the birthday post up on the first day of the month? The jury is still out on that friends.
December is a shortlist of birthdays. I'm thinking I may expand this list to include marriages and deaths as well just to give it more substance.
Let's start with today! 1 December 1877 was the birthday of my maternal great-grandfather, Daniel P. Hicks. I have not been able to determine what the middle initial of "P" is for. It seems that many of my male ancestors used middle initials regularly but not the full name. It's rather frustrating. While his given name of Daniel has been passed on, there are very few gentlemen in this line with a "P" name. Determining GGF Hick's wife's ancestors was troublesome. You can read about GGM Julia "Jewel" Hicks here. Daniel would have celebrated his 144th birthday today.
Following close behind GGF Hicks is his son, Talmage (or Talmadge) Whitaker Hicks. Grandfather Hicks was born on 3 December 1898. I never met this gentleman, nor my paternal grandfather, since he died before my birth. My eldest sibling's only memory of him was when he was in the hospital just before he died. He waved to her from his window, since she was too young to visit. At a rousing 123 years young, GF Hicks is the youngest on this month's list.
Moving to Wifey's list for the first of only two this month, is her 4x great-grandfather, Lewis Barfield. Lewis was born 8 December 1767 and he would have turned 254 this year.
Next are the two eldest on this month's list. First, we have a 6x great-grandfather on my paternal side, Joseph Dyrk Westbrook. His birthdate is not confirmed, but the source I have gives it as 15 December 1706. Even at what would be 315 years of age, he's not the oldest. That honor falls to the next gentleman.
Tjerck Mathysszen van Keuren, the father-in-law of Joseph Dyrk Westbrook just above. My sources show that he was born 16 December 1682 in the New York Colony. Naturally, this has not been completely confirmed.
Wifey's other ancestor on this list is her 5x great-grandmother, Maria Catherine Mayer. GGM Maria was born 17 December 1749, and she would have been a glorious 272 this year.
We'll finish this month with three more from my side, two from my father's family with one from my mom's family sandwiched in the middle.
James Hancock, Jr., my 4x great-grandfather was born 21 December 1760 in Chester County, Pennsylvania. He was just the second generation born in the colonies for the Hancock's.
From my mother's family, we have Nancy Ann Owens, born 22 December 1765. GGM Nancy is my 5x great-grandmother.
To finish off December it has to be a Christmas baby. You have to have a Christmas baby right? For me it's my 4x great-grandfather, George W. Chapman, Sr. GGF Chapman was born 25 December 1755. I'm going to tell you straight up that not only do I not know what the "W" stands for, but there are also so many George Chapmans in the central Pennsylvania area that going beyond this gentleman is so confusing. I know his son, George junior is indeed my 3x GGF, and strongly believe he was born in Pennsylvania. But so many trees link George junior to another George Chapman, born in the UK. So let's just consider this gentleman as a "work in progress".
I do have a brief comment on the use of middle initials; mainly that I don't use my middle name either. I do not care for my middle name at all. Dear ol' mom didn't give either of her sons's a strong male name. Mine is so bad. It's so not masculine that wifey and granddaughter-the-elder have it as their middle names. We just all spell it differently.
That's all I have for this month folks. Leave a comment if you'd like to see more information such as deaths and marriages. And as always, more documentation is available if you want to see it, just ask!
Peace,
B
