Young Family

Once upon a time I sent the Boone family history to my cousin, Kris. I used my research as well as the information collected by the Boone Historical Society of America and the DeBohun Historical Society in England. Now those two societies definitely do not agree.

The thing Kris saw right away and probably what the American Society objects to is the lineage goes all the way back to Adam and Eve.

Now at the Bates reunion Rhonda brought up the name Clement Bates as the first Bates in America. I had our line back to Joseph, the son of Joseph, the son of Joseph, but short of Clement. So I went looking for the leads that Rhonda had given.

Then I took another look at the Young line. Remember them? John Wallis Bates, the father of Martin Van Buren Bates, was the son of William Bates and Margaret Young. For years I had known that Margaret was the daughter of Robert & Mary Young and the granddaughter of John Young and Elizabeth Lnu. I think Lnu is such an unusual name, but we have it in several lines.

This time I was able to go back on John Young. His parents were Andrew Lamont Young and Mary Adair. The next in line was Sir John Lamont and Mary Young. And guess what? It went all the way back to Adam and Eve.

But...

This time I got a reason for it. Most Irish families come from a small group of Irish who were ruled by Kings, so most families go back to Kings. They did not just become King by birth. It had to be the best person (or the one who survived the battle or bloodbath) to be king. There were different kingdoms around, but some tried to lay claim to being the King of Ireland as a whole territory. Part of their custom was to memorize their lineage. They would not write it down and certain people were set aside to accompany Kings in Battle to be able to report how they performed and who survived. They never wrote the history down. Here is what the article by Kate Montressor said:

Traditionally, most Irish families sprang from a small number of Irish chiefs.
As families multiplied, each person was required to know his relationship to the
ruling family. The oldest Irish names were personal names, later becoming
surnames. The Seannachies (the clan bards or storytellers) were the official
keepers of genealogical data. They didn't write anything down, for fear the
knowledge would get into the wrong hands and be used against them. For hundreds of years, their legacy was oral, committed to memory and passed down through the generations. This was a coveted task and taken very seriously; death was the penalty for mistakes.

I don't know if they let women be Seannachies, but I think that's where I would have fit in the past. Maybe I was in a past life and that's why I have the urgency to know everything that I can about every generation.

Ya think?

Giant Fest 2

On Saturday morning we drove down to Berlin, Ohio and tasted cheese and fudge and bought baked goods and popcorn. Lana got bored with seeing so many buggies pulled by horses. When we returned my son headed toward Medina to meet up with his high school buddies and play some disk golf. My daughter-in-law and granddaughters headed for the festival.

The first thing we saw when we parked was a coach drawn by two horses. We took a ride.


Erika and Claire.

Lana and me

We went to the park and got chicken dinners. Lana chose a chili dog.Then I headed them over to the popcorn booth. Such great flavors, and we got to sample them all!! Also, at this booth they do a taffy pull. Erika and Lana sat down to pull the taffy and wrap it around a big apple while Claire and I ate popcorn and took pictures.

The man who runs the booth told us about how sugar used to come in cones wrapped in blue paper. He told us that the word fudge originally meant "nonsense" or "humbug". One day while some taffy was being made, it didn't go well and the girls who made it called it fudge. He also talked about taffy coming from Wales and originally being called tuffy -- which is still called in Wales today. He knew so much. We were really glad we met him.

I asked Lana to hold up her apple so I could take her picture with her work. Ham that she is she struck this pose. Not that she could have taken a bite with her two front teeth out.

Lana measuring up against her g-g-g-g-g Uncle and Aunt.

You could pet the horses while they were resting.

We had an official picture taken at the Bates picture. We also took some of our own. The funniest thing was after we stepped off the platform Claire kept trying to climb back up. We finally figured out that she was trying to get to the chair in the picture. She wanted to climb into it.

We again went to the memorial service for Anna and Martin. You could walk or ride a wagon to the cemetery.

Lana and Claire rode with Abraham Lincoln. Lana was in awe of Mr. Lincoln and asked him many questions. He gave Claire and Lana each a shiny new Lincoln penny when they parted.

After the memorial service, we went back to the park so the girls could play on the swings and slides. Claire had a great time. I took pictures. But Claire is starting to want to handle a camera, too.

Of course Lana has used a camera for years. I told her she should take some shots of our hotel room. She took pictures of the toliet, the sink, the bed, the door to the circuit breakers, the kitchen, the floor and then a few of herself in the mirror.

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We did get to take a swim in the pool after the playground, and had planned on going out to dinner, but settled on having a delicious pizza delivered and hitting the sack.

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On Sunday we wanted to go to the museum. I wanted to take a picture of Jason next to the statues that he had stood beside in 1983 and get pictures of the whole family there, plus let them look around at the whole museum. We had been told it would open at 10, but by 10:30 it still wasn't open, so we headed back home so Lana would get a good night's sleep before school on Monday.

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Overall, it was a much smaller festival this year. We missed the civil war encampment and the children's play. There were no fireworks, but with the economy that wasn't surprising and isn't what draws us to the festival anyway. It was beautiful weather and a chance for me to show my granddaughters a little bit of family history.

Giant Fest Saturday

First, the pictures I promised from the other day. These are the Bates who attended the dinner in Seville, Ohio at the Giant Fest for 2009.








This is the table that was set up with items for the memorial for Elinda Bates Wing and for pictures and info that Rhonda brought about Martin Van Buren Bates.





This is Elinda's husband, Stephen Wing, and her son, Nick.

The pictures I took in the hotel of the rings did not come out well. I will do them again, but here is one of the crummy ones..... Martin's ring is a size 22.

Bates Reunion 2009

Well it's that time again. We had the Bates dinner at the Giantfest in Seville, Ohio last night. And you know what? It felt like a reunion this time.

Our cousin, Rhonda Turner, heads up the Bates dinner working with the festival organizers in Seville. She lives in Knoxville, Tennessee but keeps up with everyone thru emails, phone and snail mail.

At last night's dinner she gave us some history that she had learned about our Bates family. Her research shows that the first Bates in America was Clement Bates who came over on the ship Elizabeth and settleed in Massachusetts abot 1635. His wife was named Ann, and they had 5 children. She also told us about other interesting Bates family members and ones she has an inkling about but haven't quite pinned down their place in the family.

I had not heard the name Clement before although I knew that there were some in the Bates Family of Old Virginia who believed the Massachusetts Bates were part of our line and others who did not accept that. I thought everything Rhonda said was interesting and can't wait to follow the research she has done.

Rhonda's mother accompanied her this year. Rhonda says they are also best friends. I thought the definitely looked more like sisters rather than mother and daughter.

A change this year was that the dinner was held in the Westfield Town Hall rather than the Baptist Church that the Bates attended during their time in town. Rhonda said the organizers have their eye on another site for next year so keep in touch with Rhonda so you will know where to go for the dinner. She needs to have a headcount so they know how many to prepare the dinner for. It was $10 this year, but a great value since it covers the rent -- if any, the drinks, dinner and dessert. The volunteers who serve and set up everything are invaluable and make it possible for us to concentrate on getting to know our Bates relatives.

Rhonda also planned some games and we found out who had the largest shoe size in the men and women as well as who was the tallest and oldest family members to attend. Rhonda's research told us that the Captain was a size 19 and Anna was a 16 (correct me if I remembered that wrong, Rhonda). Our winner was a size 14 in the men's but he just barely came to six feet tall.

It's appropriate that the last blog I wrote was about the passing of Elinda Bates Wing. She attended the dinner and festival last year and passed away. Rhonda arranged a short memorial service to rememer Elinda. Elinda's husband Steven Wing and her son, Nick were in attendance last year as well as this year. Nick wrote several songs in the year before his mother's passing and after. He put them on a CD for us and also played one of the songs in person. It was a very moving tribute. Steven talked about his love for Elinda and her passing and the scholarship and internship that had been set up in Elinda's honor at the University of Kentucky.

Among other relatives that were at my table were the McIntires. They and the Wings all come through Jesse Bates, a brother to Martin Van Buren Bates. One of the McIntire couples lives in Centerville near by brother and the other in Monroe. Diana McIntire is also a Mullins relative.

I didn't get a chance to talk to them, but I also heard the names Tackett and Rhonda's mother has married again after the death of her first husband and is a Webb. So there were other connections family wise that could have been there.

I also wanted to show you something I came across this year. Last year I showed you the picture of a ring that the Historical Society in Seville put out which is a size 22 --- the size Martin Van Buren Bates wore. Dad came across a ring at a yard sale in Ohio which he bought because of the size. The lady who had it said it came from someone who was in a circus. Hmmmmm.

I am hoping the lady who actually had one of Anna's rings is at the festival. I would like to compare sizes with her. I doubt this was one of Anna's, but it could be another of those rings that was sold at the circus as a souvenier. I like it regardless.

Off to the festival....... I will post pictures when I get back this afternoon.