Researching the Family Tree in Spain

We were in Spain last week, visiting my husband’s family.  I had no plans to do any genealogy research during this trip, since we were planning to just visit family for a short time.  However, fate intervened!

On our second morning in Madrid I opened our email to find a message from a gentleman in Barcelona who had seen my family tree on line, and he had a common ROJO 3^rd great grandfather with my husband.  We immediately emailed him back and forth, and found out his parents were from Sinovas, where the ROJO family originated, and where my father-in-law was born and baptized.

Within a day we compared this new cousin’s family tree with my husband’s (thank goodness for having a private Ancestry.com tree online I could access with my iPad).  We also contacted some cousins we knew from Sinovas and they sent us the name and phone number of the parish priest.  It took several phone calls to make an appointment to meet up with the priest to see the parish records.  It took a few more phone calls to find a cousin to drive us to Sinovas, about two hours north of Madrid in the province of Burgos.  The next day we were on our way!

The gate to the city of Aranda de Duero, Burgos, Spain

We met up with the priest in the village of Aranda de Duero.  He was pastor in both villages, but since Sinovas is so small (population 132) he keeps the books at the bigger church in Aranda .  We had looked at the books of baptisms, weddings and burials once before, about fifteen years ago. This time we brought our digital camera, and we had all the time we wanted to look at the books in the church office while the priest celebrated a mass.  He then invited all of us to go to see the church in Sinovas, since he was preparing for a funeral there that same afternoon.

Vincent's uncle's baptism and marriage records

Vincent's face when we found the marriage record

of his 3rd great grandparents!

Of course, we took him up on his offer to see the church in Sinovas.  It was built in the year 800 as a garrison tower, and had been modified over the years.  Sinovas is only 3 km from Aranda (less than 2 miles).  We explored the church yard, too, which was built in 1883.  Before that, burials took place under the church floor.

San Nicolas de Bari church, Sinovas, Burgos, Spain

The tower was built in the 800s, the central part

of the church has a ceiling dated in the 1200s

Generations of Rojos were baptized in this font

After all the exploration we treated our cousins to a feast of roast suckling lamb, the specialty of Aranda de Duero.  Vincent enjoyed his visit to the “Land of the Rojos” very much.  He hadn’t been there in at least a decade.  We found enough information on the Rojo family to connect to his new cousin, and we had photos of dozens of Rojo baptism, wedding and burial records from the parish records. Most of the early books had been removed from Sinovas to be stored at the Archbishop’s archives in the city of Burgos, another two hours north. 

This is the house in Sinovas

where Vincent's Dad was born

Roast sucking lamb cooked in a beehive oven

in Aranda de Duero

Family legend says that Moises Rojo, Vincent's grandfather

was locked in a wine cellar like this before his 

execution during the Spanish Civil War in 1936

I can already see that on our next trip to Spain we’ll be taking an overnight trip to Burgos to visit the archives.  It will be our second trip.  To read all about our first trip, click HERE, and you will know why we have such incomplete records on the branch of the family from Sinovas.

2010 blog post on the archives of Burgos
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/02/archives-of-archbishop-of-burgosspain.html

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/11/researching-family-tree-in-spain.html

 

Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Weathervane Wednesday ~ A Mill Yard Landmark

Every Wednesday for more than two years  I've been posting photographs of weathervanes located in or near the Nutfield area (the former name for the land where Londonderry, Derry and Windham, New Hampshire are now located). Most are historically interesting or just whimsical and fun weathervanes. Today's weathervane can be seen somewhere in the Merrimack Valley in Massachusetts. Have fun guessing where you may have seen this weather vane.

Do you know the location of weather vane #123? Scroll down to see the answer....

Today's weather vane can be seen on top of the New Balance Factory building on Merrimack Street in Lawrence, Massachusetts.  This very large clock tower is visible for miles around the Merrimack Valley, and is only one foot smaller than Big Ben in London.  It is the second largest four sided clocktower in the world.  It is part of the former Ayer Mill, which was the home of the American Woolen Company, built in 1909.  The American Woolen Company owned 60 woolen mills in New England, and "in the 1920s it controlled 20% of the nation's woolen production."

The American Woolen Company closed in 1955.  The Ayer Mill clock tower fell into disrepair, but was saved in 1991 when the community raised over $1 million to restore the clock.  The Essex County Community Foundation, New Balance Corporation, and the Wood and Ayer families continue to maintain the clocktower.

Essex County Community Foundation, information on the Ayer Mill Clock Tower
http://www.eccf.org/ayer-mill-clock-tower

"Ayer Mill Clock Tower, A Lawrence Icon, turns 100", Eagle Tribune, Lawrence, Massachusetts, by Keith Eddings, 18 September 2010
http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x1561144158/Ayer-Mill-clock-tower-a-Lawrence-icon-turns-100

Click here to see the entire collection of Weathervane Wednesday posts!

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The URL for this post is
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/11/weathervane-wednesday-mill-yard-landmark.html

Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Henry Moor, M. A., d. 1798 Londonderry, New Hampshire

This tombstone was photographed at the Valley Cemetery in Londonderry, New Hampshire

Henry Moor, M. A. 

departed this life Feb 14, 1798 

AEtat 34

A lecture silent, but of sovereign power

To vice, confusion; and to virtue, peace

Virtue alone has majesty in death

Henry Moor was the son of William Moor and Martha Mack of Londonderry.  He graduated from Phillips Andover Academy in 1787, and from Dartmouth College in 1793.  He was the first preceptor of Groton Academy (now known as the Lawrence Academy at Groton) from 1793 – 1796 for a salary of $745.83.   Following his brief teaching career Henry Moor was a merchant in Londonderry, and died unmarried at age 34. Obviously, he must have been a Freemason.

The St. Marks Lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons is located at 58 Broadway in Derry, New Hampshire. According to their website, they were granted their charter in 1826, and met above James Thom’s grocery store in East Derry, which at that time was still Londonderry.  This is too late to have been the lodge where Henry Moor belonged. I wondered where he became a Freemason?

The New England Historic Genealogical Society’s subscription website www.americanancestors.org has a data base of Massachusetts membership cards from 1733 – 1990.  I didn't find Henry Moor listed there.

According to the website of the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire, the first meeting of New Hampshire Freemasons was on 8 July 1789 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire to create a Grand Lodge for the state.  Many local lodges were involved in this decision, so I’m sure that there must have been a lodge near Londonderry, or perhaps near Dartmouth College, where he became a member.   For example, St. John’s Lodge, No. 1 in Portsmouth was gathered in 1736, one of the oldest Masonic Lodges in the USA.

 

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The URL for this post is
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/11/tombstone-tuesday-henry-moor-m-d-1798.html
 

Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Military Honor Roll Project

War Memorials and Honor Rolls at MacGregor Park in Derry, New Hampshire

Every year I invite bloggers for contributions to the Military Honor Roll Project.  This is an effort by bloggers to photograph and transcribe the names on their local and ancestral military honor rolls.  Participants have contributed memorials from schools, towns, parks, cemeteries and businesses.  By transcribing the names and listing them in the body of the blog posts, the names are available to be found by family members and descendants using search engines.   I've received lots of fun email and comments from folks who were surprised to find their ancestors online, especially those who didn't know their family members were veterans.

You can find a list of all the participants at the page tab at the top of my blog, or at this link:

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/p/honor-roll-project.html

If you are a blogger, please consider photographing and transcribing the military honor in your home town.  It is a fun and easy project.   If you don’t have a blog, take a photo and transcribe the names and then ask your favorite genealogy blogger to include in this project at their blog.  You've done all the work, and they can just post it for you.  Please post your projects anytime this week or by November 11th, Veteran's Day. 

After you post your project, please send me the URL in the comments here, or to my email at vrojomit@gmail.com     This year Thomas MacEntee of the website www.geneabloggers.com has agreed to include these posts at his Pinterest board for GeneaBloggers at this link (let me know if you want to be invited to pin your honor roll transciptions to this group board, too):

http://www.pinterest.com/geneabloggers/military-honor-rolls/   

Have fun looking at all the Pinterest contributions and thanks, so much for considering the Military Honor Roll project!

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/11/military-honor-roll-project.html

Copyright © 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

The Fifth Annual Great Genealogy Poetry Challenge

This poem is submitted for Bill West’s Fifth Annual Great Genealogy Poetry Challenge.  

You can read all about it at this page:

http://westinnewengland.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-fifth-annual-great-genealogy-poetry.html

Bertha Louise (Roberts) Wilkinson
1897 - 1990

My grandmother, Bertha Louise Roberts, came to Massachusetts from Yorkshire, England in 1915. She married my grandfather, Donald Munroe Wilkinson, in Beverly, Massachusetts in 1925.  In England, she trained to be a children’s nurse (a Nanny) when she was only twelve years old. She was always a terrific story teller, and could recite dozens of poems.  She dreamed of writing poetry and being a poet.  I've submitted some of her other poems here for previous Genealogy Poetry Challenges.

I think that the New England weather always surprised Grammy.  It was not as mild and as predictable as the weather in England. Many of her poems are about weather, seasons, and nature.  The one I transcribed below is a poem she would often recite to me when I was a little girl. The last line makes me think that she was happy to have become a U.S. citizen.

Spring Time

By Bertha Roberts Wilkinson

Old man winter with a sigh

                Knew that he must say good bye

Miss Spring softly enters in

                Now the pleasant days begin

Windy March with huff and puff

                Miss Spring calls “Now, that’s enough!”

Gentler days will soon be here

                For it’s that time of the year

A little snow is still around

                But the little crocus can be found

Their little faces bravely raise

                To the sunshine’s warmer rays

Now that Spring is here one sees

                Green leaves growing on the trees

Nature busy waking up

                Daisies and the buttercup

Birds are singing far and near

                Songs for everyone to hear

Tulips in their bright array

                Gently on their stems will sway

We see children at their play

                Outdoors now most every day

Roller skates and bouncing ball

                Jumping, skipping, growing tall

Thank Heavenly Father for the spring

                For loving parents and everything

For mountains, valleys, skies so blue

                And for this Country, we thank thee, too.

Please click here to read more of Bertha’s poetry:

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/10/poems-by-my-grandmother.html

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The URL for this post is
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-fifth-annual-great-genealogy-poetry.html
 

Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

An Emotional Turn of Events

This family portrait was made about 1940.

It was three years after Moises Rojo Torres, the father in this group,

was executed in 1936 and buried in a mass grave during the Spanish Civil War.

His photo was pasted in post mortem. My father in law is the eldest child

on the left side of this family group. 

While we were in Spain a few weeks ago, one of Vincent’s distant cousins in Barcelona found my blog and sent us a message about his branch of the family.  We were able to add many cousins to the family tree with his help.  I reciprocated with information on Vincent’s branch, and we have been corresponding by email ever since.  We even took a quick trip to Aranda de Duero and the tiny village of Sinovas, where the common ancestors lived up until the 20^th century. 

Then, unexpectedly this morning, this newly found cousin sent a very emotional email message.  Included was a link to a story in the Spanish newspaper El Pais.  It seems that on 1 November, All Saint’s Day, the bodies of 129 executed citizens of Aranda de Duero and the surrounding villages were re-interred in the cemetery in Aranda.  These men, and one woman, were from the ages of 16 to 70 years old, buried in mass graves.  They had been executed by the Francist forces during the Spanish Civil War.  We knew that Vincent’s grandfather, Moises Rojo Torres, was one of these men executed in 1936.

The remains of 129 individual excavated from the mass graves near Aranda de Duero, Spain

This was a very emotional development for the family.  We immediately called the family in Spain, and spoke with Vincent’s parents.  They had just seen a story about the ceremony on the TV news, but they didn't know if Moises was included.  Vincent was able to tell them that his name was on the plaque.  If we had known about this we could have delayed our visit to Spain by two weeks, and then seen the remains of grandfather Moises re-buried with dignity in the ceremony.  It will definitely be a destination to visit during our next trip to Spain.

You can read the article at this link at the El Pais website:  

http://politica.elpais.com/politica/2013/11/02/actualidad/1383426406_908915.html

 There are also a dozen photographs of the re-interment ceremony , including a photo of the plaque with the names of the fallen. In the very middle of the photo you can read the name Moises Rojo Torres.  The article is written in Spanish.  It explains about the executions during the Spanish Civil War, the mass graves that were found and excavated, and how the ceremony to re-inter the remains took place on 1 November 2013, 77 years after the executions.  The government did not fund any DNA tests on the remains, and so many of the bodies are unidentified.  No government officials attended the ceremonies. 

I've blogged about Vincent’s Grandfather in the past, and Footnote Maven was even kind enough to let me write up a longer story about Moises during the Spanish Civil War for her online magazine Shades of the Departed.  You can find those links below (warning, some of the photos of the excavation of the common graves are disturbing):

The Mass Grave at Monte Costajan

 http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/09/mass-grave-at-monte-costajan.html

Shades of the Departed article, see page 78

http://issuu.com/shadesofthedeparted/docs/mementomori/93

Participating families formed a human chain to help bury the remains

You can read the name "Moises Rojo Torres", Vincent's grandfather, 

in the middle of the top section of names on this plaque at the cemetery in Arande de Duero.

These photos were taken from the El Pais newspaper website www.elpais.com 

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/11/an-emotional-turn-of-events.html 

Copyright © 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ Skinner of Hartford, Connecticut

SKINNER

John Skinner (1590 – 1650) was a member of Reverend Thomas Hooker’s company, who came to Connecticut in 1635.  He was an original proprietor of Hartford, Connecticut and his name is on the Founder’s Monument.  His original grant of land was on the west side of Main Street, but he traded this with Richard Olmstead for a lot on the highway that is now Trumbull Street.

John’s widow, Mary Loomis, daughter of the settler Joseph Loomis, remarried to Owen Tudor in 1651.  Owen’s daughter, Sarah Tudor, married James Porter.  She was the grandmother of Sarah Porter, who married John Skinner’s grandson, John Skinner (1675 – 1740).

His son, Joseph Skinner, my 8^th great grandfather, was admitted to the church at Windsor, Connecticut by a special vote on 16 February 1678/79. He had never been baptized, and that was performed on 2 March of the same year.  He eventually became a deacon of the church.  Joseph Skinner was one of the early settlers of Massacoe (Simbury), but returned to Windsor after Simsbury was burned by the Indians on 26 March 1676.

My Skinner lineage:

Generation 1: John Skinner, son of William Skinner and Margery Trotter, was born about 1590 in Braintree, Essex, England, and died 30 October 1650 in Hartford, Connecticut; married about 1637 in Windsor, Connecticut to Mary Loomis, daughter of Joseph Loomis and Mary White.  She was born about 1620 in Shalford, England and died 19 August 1680.  She remarried on 13 November 1651 to Owen Tudor.

Generation 2:  Joseph Skinner, born about 1643 and died 15 September 1690 in Windsor; married on 5 April 1660 in Windsor to Mary Filley, daughter of William Filley and Margaret Cockney.  She was born about 1647 in Windsor, and died 13 April 1711 in East Windsor.

Generation 3: John Skinner, born 5 April 1675 in Windsor, died 27 August 1740 in Colchester, Connecticut; married in 1696 in Colchester to Sarah Porter, daughter of John Porter and Joanna Gaylord.  She was born 4 June 1677 in Windsor, died 22 February 1747 in Norton, Massachusetts.

Generation 4: Aaron Skinner, born 14 June 1713 in Colchester, died 17 November 1766 in Colchester; married on 4 August 1737 to Eunice Taintor, daughter of Michael Taintor and Eunice Foote.  She was born 13 April 1713 in Colchester and died after 1779. 

Generation 5:  Charles Skinner, born 3 January 1748 in Colchester, died before 1837 in Nova Scotia, Canada; married on 24 November 1774 in Passamaquoddy, Maine or New Brunswick to Sarah Osborn, daughter of Samuel Osborn and Sarah Wass.  She was born 22 July 1760 in Fredricton, New Brunswick, Canada and died 15 July 1848 in Pleasant Valley, Cornwallis, Nova Scotia.

Generation 6: Ann Skinner, born 9 March 1786 in Cornwallis, died 19 October 1815 in Cornwallis; married on 30 September 1802 in Cornwallis to Thomas Ratchford Lyons, son of David Lyons and Elizabeth Ratchford. 

Generation 7:  Isabella Lyons m. Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill

Generation 8: Caleb Rand Bill m. Ann Margaret Bollman

Generation 9: Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson

Generation 10: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

For more information:

Families of Early Hartford, Connecticut by Lucius Barnes Barbour, reprinted Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1977

Descendants of Joseph Loomis in America and his antecedents in the Old World, by Elisha Scott Loomis, 1952, Volume 1, page 108 (available to read online at Archive.org)

Skinner Family Association http://skinnerkinsmen.org/

Descendants of John Skinner are eligible to join the Society of the Founders of Hartford http://www.foundersofhartford.org/index.htm

Available at the Connecticut State Library RG 074:053, John Skinner, of Hartford and Some of His Descendants by Charles W. Skinner, 1935 manuscript one volume and loose sheets.  This record is stored off-site and may not be available for a same day basis for access.  See the website for rules and procedures for researchers using archival records and secured collections policy http://www.ctstatelibrary.org/node/2324

There is a sketch of John Skinner at The American Genealogist, Volume 74, pages 97 – 100

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/11/surname-saturday-skinner-of-hartford.html 

Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

BBC Radio Ulster “Kist O’ Wurds” will feature Nutfield History this month!

Chris Spurr photographs Jean Manthorne, Richard Holmes, Heather Rojo and Mark Wilson
in Derry, New Hampshire's Forest Hill Cemetery

In August the BBC Radio Ulster team of Chris Spurr and Mark Wilson came to Derry, New Hampshire to search for and record stories about the early history of Nutfield.  They were looking for evidence of the original Scots Irish culture in New Hampshire, and found a plethora of history and tales when they interviewed Richard Holmes, the Derry Town Historian; Heather Rojo, the President of the Londonderry Historical Society; Jean Manthorne, the President of the Windham Historical Society and also Brad Dinsmore, local historian and a descendant of Robert Dinsmoor, “The Rustic Bard”. 

Why is Derry Town Historian, Richard Holmes, lying on the ground
to read a gravestone?  Tune into the radio show to find out more! 

On Sunday, November 3^rd, the radio show “Kist O’ Wurds” will highlight stories from Heather Rojo and Richard Holmes, discussing the original Ulster Scots who settled Nutfield, which became Derry, Londonderry and Windham, New Hampshire.  This band of settlers was led by the Reverend James MacGregor, a Presbyterian pastor from Aghadowey, Northern Ireland, in 1718.  The program will air on the BBC on air at 11am and be available for listening on the website for one week afterwards at this link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007d4s0

Mark Wilson interviews Jean Manthorne and Brad Dinsmore
in the historic First Parish Church, founded by Scots Irish pastor James MacGregor.
They are standing in front of the MacGregor stained glass window
decorated with the MacGregor tartan, and Gaelic family mottoes 

On November 17^th a second episode of the radio show will air and focus on the history of Robert Dinsmoor (1757 – 1828), “The Rustic Bard” of Windham, New Hampshire.  Brad Dinsmore and Jean Manthorne will be featured, and you will hear excerpts of Dinsmoor’s poems read by his descendant.  There was much discussion of the poet’s use of the Scots dialect and language in his writing, and I hope this made it into the radio show.  You will be able to listen to this episode on line for one week after it airs on the BBC radio, until Sunday November 10th, see the link above.

After visiting Derry, New Hampshire Spurr and Wilson went on to visit the Highland Games at Loon Mountain, an Ulster Scots archaeological dig in Maine, and a Scots Irish festival in Pennsylvania.  These adventures will also be episodes of “Kist O’ Wurds” and available on the website, too.  "A Kist O' Wurds" has been running on BBC Radio Ulster since 2002, and features music, poetry, history, culture and the Scots Irish language. 

“A Kist O’ Wurds”  Radio Program website  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007d4s0

Thank you to Joan Normington of the Windham Historical Society for the top photo on this page!

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/10/bbc-radio-ulster-kist-o-wurds-will.html

Copyright © 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo