Saturday, November 7, 2009

Eight is Enough! My GGgrandmother's Combined Family

I recently went through some of my genealogy files- I knew my GGGgrandmother had been married three times and had children with each husband but never took the time to look at them as a group instead of invidual children from individual marriages. I was surprised to see that between them all there were 8 children.
My gggrandmother Sarah Ellen Jones was the first child born to my ggg grandmother Anne Dickerson- followed by two more children- a boy and a girl. After the death of my ggggrandfather she married again- having one male child. This husband also passed away. When she remarried she married a man with a male child whose mother had died this new marriage resulted in the birth of three more children- two girls and a boy.
When the last child was born my gggrandmother Sarah my grandmother was in her late 20's and no longer in the household.
But my grandmother had been sent to live with an aunt when she was 14 years old- she had told this to a reporter when she was interviewed by the then local newspaper- the Tampico Tornando. She did not state why this had happened. Could it have been that her step father had died and her mother could not afford to take care of that many children? Could it have been because she did not get along with the mother's new beau? Or was it perhaps because her aunt needed help caring for a new baby?
I of course will never know the answer. But Sarah Ellen Jones grew up to be an incredibly strong & independent woman at one point in her life owning her own sawmill in the State of Michigan. Instead of her strange family life having an adverse effect on her it would seem to have only made her stronger!
I regret that I never met her but I am so greatful that such a wonderful woman is my anestor!

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