The mission from Randy Seaver: how many surnames in your family tree database was done before, but since the Bough family gathering I needed to bring the tree up to date. Looking at the Surname Statistics in my Roots Magic Software, there are 9 pages with 39 names per page . Grand total of about 351 surnames in my database with 1,144 persons. The top 15 are with birth date ranges:
I love family reunions
Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings offers us the following challenge:
Your mission this week, should you decide to accept it, is to:
1) Pick one of your sets of great-grandparents – if possible, the one with the most descendants.
2) Create a descendants list for those great-grandparents either by hand or in your software program.
3) Tell us how many descendants, living or dead, are in each generation from those great-grandparents.
4) How many are still living? Of those, how many have you met and exchanged family information with? Are there any that you should make contact with ASAP? Please don’t use last names of living people for this – respect their privacy.
5) Write about it in your own blog post, in comments to this post, or in comments or a Note on Facebook.
For this exercise I chose my Great-Grandfather August Curtis Bough (1866-1939) This is one of the smaller branches of the family tree. I did not count spouses/partners.
I created a descendant List report in Roots-Magic 7. Then I counted the descendants of each generation.
His descendants, I am aware of, number by generation:
The total that I am aware of is 110 persons., I have met 59 of the 76 still alive. I have met 11 out of 36 that are now deceased. So that leaves at least 17 that I haven’t met, most are younger than myself. Recently at the Bough gathering I met several 3X Great-Grans of August C. Bough.
Perhaps through research/DNA testing I will be able to find more descendants of:
Martin Luther Bough (1887 – 1968)
Emalda Bough-Wortman (1898-1984)
Vivian M. Bough (1893-1917)
While the challenge was fun, it was a somber moment. I could not help, but think about the family stories, cultural connections, shared by those deceased descendants that I knew and loved.
During the 100th anniversary commemoration of Transfer Day, when the Danish West Indies were formally transferred from Denmark to the United States, the Bough family of the U.S. Virgin Islands gathered again on St. Croix to celebrate our cultural blend and share family history.
” One of the things that binds us as a family is a shared sense of humor –Ralph Fiennes
We are one week in the celebration of Black History Month, a month of recognizing the achievements and contributions of African-American people in the diaspora. For those of us who value our ancestry and history, join me in focusing on your family’s contributions that made a meaningful impact to your community and the larger society.
As we do our research, we will discover the many small and large influences that our family members have made to enhance the quality of life of others, and which still remains an impact today.
So get to work, dig into the wealth of information out there, then document and share your proud heritage weekly. Be sure to leave a link to your post in the comments of this post.
I have already started and so far, I have uncovered that My great, great, great-uncle Harold Bough had served 24 years in the US Navy when the Spanish-American War was being fought.
A 1932 St. Croix Tribute Newspaper Article also indicated that he was in Chinese waters for the Boxer Rebellion with the Party of American Surveyors in 1894, he crossed the proposed route from the Atlantic to Pacific of the Nicaraguan canal, a project that was considered before the present Panama Canal Route had been decided upon, and from 1879-83 he was stationed in the Pacific during the Peruvian and Chilean War.
Printout about Harold Bough from G. James Fleming Article “Journal and Guide of VA
Harold Bough was the son of Ida Rosalie Keutsch and George Bough both of St. Croix US Virgin Islands formerly the Danish West Indies. He met and married Maggie J. Keeling of Norfolk Virginia and settled in Portsmouth Virginia together they had eight (8) daughters known as the “Bough Girls”
Harold Bough who left the shores of St. Croix to St. Thomas and sailed around the World twice as a Merchant Marine was honored to serve. Harold Bough died in Portsmouth, VA at the age of 84 years old.
Rosalyn Bough applies for Military Headstone for her father Harold Bough.
As Bell Hooks explains, “reclaim their history, call their names, state their particulars, gather and remember, to share our inheritance”
The theme: Weekly Black History Narrative (from your family tree.)
I look forward to reading your story. Don’t forget to leave a comment with a link to your weekly Black History Narrative. Or contact me by email at its.sheldew@gmail.com
Floral Tribute to African Ancestors. “Come Home to St. Croix” July, 2016
Saturday Night Genealogy Fun with Randy Seaver. The challenge is to create a five or six generation ancestor chart that shows your ancestor’s birthplaces .
As I was looking at the ancestral birth charts on Randy’s Genea Mussings blog, I was struck by the participants ability to identify 5 generations. I took note of the various countries labeled; and the flow from one generation to the next. It appeared with each generation born, the families would settle in a different state.
Knowing my ancestors basically remained in one country or one state. I had second thoughts about developing and sharing a birth chart. Simply put, my ancestors’ birth place is either the US Virgin Islands or Savannah Georgia. Shaking the family trees has not yet produced five generations. Still, I decided to join the fun and create my ancestral birth chart.
The five generations chart of my maternal lineage begins with an ancestor that was born in Barbados, who settled in the Danish West Indies; to the descendants of my generation, who were born in New York.
The five generations chart of my paternal lineage begins with ancestors born Georgia or in the low country of South Carolina, settling in Savannah Georgia; to the descendants of my generation, who were born in New York.
The 1917 transfer of the Danish West Indies to the Virgin Islands of the United States played a significant role in the migration of Virgin Islanders to the city of New York. Change was in the air; our people saw the same opportunities in the North as southern blacks, who were leaving states below the Mason-Dixon Line en mass. In creating the chart I recognized, both paternal along with maternal ancestors all had a common goal: making their lives and the lives of their families better in an environment that promoted freedom and possibility.
Amy Johnson Crow “no story too small” suggested we write about Resolution. A resolution can be something that you resolve to do. It can also be the end or conclusion of something. What ancestor do you resolve to find more about in 2016? What ancestor have you resolved conflicting evidence about?
Many of the ancestral and collateral line stories I composed for 52 ancestors in 52 week challenge by Amy Crow, resulted from my enthusiastic research on my relatives I either met or heard stories from the elders.
I am deeply grateful to “All Ah You” who Read, Liked, Text or took the time to comment on the blog. Your encouragement continues to inspire me. I thank you Janet, for being a guest blogger, contributing the tragic story of the “Fancy Me”. (see Stormy Weather n Tortola BVI) It has been a great year, but for now, for Ancestry purposes, I have taken up the challenge of discovering the ethnicity of my ancestral lineage, sorting out the DNA Matches hoping to connect and meet new cousins.
In an effort to trace back beyond my 2nd GG on my paternal lineage, I decided to ask my Dad if he would submit to DNA Testing. My father is very interested in genealogy. His willingness heightened my curiosity, for this I was grateful. We chose autosomal DNA Testing. The autosomal DNA Test is half of the DNA inherited from both parents. Besides being confused by the results, 59% African, 40% European, and 1% West Asia; my dad ethnicity and where his ancestors lived were so different from the family tree I created.
This past Christmas, Ancestry DNA was offering Autosomal DNA testing at a discounted rate. Something I hesitated to do and now eager to get involved in. So, I decided to take what is known as the “Big Spit” into a tube and sent it off to Ancestry.com.
My ethnicity estimate revealed 77% African, 22% European, and 1% Native American. Surprisingly, the 1 % Native American is from my maternal Caribbean lineage. With this knowledge, I’m hoping to have my mother tested to discover further the Native American DNA aspect.
My top estimates; Ivory Coast/Ghana Cameroon/Congo
One of the most fascinating things that have happened is that I met new cousins. Patricia introduces herself as my 5th cousin from the Netherlands Amsterdam. That explains why there are so many cultures in Holland and that it’s quite OK to eat rice, chicken, masala and roti. Patricia says is not Dutch food. Another particular match is from a DNA cousin who respectfully shared the bill of sale of his ancestor who entered into Tybee Island , Savannah Georgia from either Africa or the Caribbean . Of course some DNA matches are intimidated. However, for most, it has been cordial reception.
Certainly, the autosomal testing is difficult to match up with genealogy records. With over 100 DNA matches for my Dad and my 61 matches attempting to identify the common ancestor, that is extremely important, challenging and somehow complicated. The issue of identify is clear, but seeing the ethnicity break-downs in the African –American family: whether through television series “FYR”, or “WDYTYA” all suggest there was a lot of mixing going on.
Although I haven’t found any celebrities or significant prominent genetic connections, nor do I have the time to climb every tree, I find the results very interesting. I hope that more people from the Caribbean region will utilize this new and exciting tool with their family history research and get DNA tested. It is exciting, to connect with family around the world you never knew you had.
Amy Johnson Crow “no story too small” suggested that we write a story to Define “nice” however you want to 🙂
Our family historian Nita, shares a “Nice” Ole Time Christmas Story with her grandson Dominick Scott.
Anita Chanette Elaine (Bough) Moorhead
Anita Moorhead was born on October 25, 1918, the daughter of Joseph E. Bough and Alice M. (Smith) Bough both of St. Croix, Virgin Islands. She is also the granddaughter of David Bough and Elizabeth (Prince) Bough as well as Emma (Mueller) Smith of St. Croix and William Smith of Tortola. In 1942, she married Adrian L. Moorheard.
Nita, as she was affectionately called by family was a very effective Teacher as early as 1937 at the Frederiksted Grammar School and the Christiansted Grammar School. After 40 years of teaching she retired from Pearl B Larsen School in 1977. She received the award of “teacher of the year” occasionally. As a teacher she impacted the lives of many Virgin Islanders. She was an active member of the Lord God of Sabaoth Church overseeing confirmation classes and acolyte training.
Anita Bough-Moorhead was our Family historian. Cousin Nita was proud of her Bough Heritage and was an inspiration for the first Bough family reunion in the late 90’s. She created the first family tree for the reunion and as my interest in the history and genealogy grew, we shared information. I became 100% consumed with this knowledge and began blogging my genealogical journey. Her love and the way she reached out and kept up with family was just incredible.
More importantly, she shared with her grandson Dominick Scott a treasure trove on how Christmas was celebrated when she was a child. Each time I read this composition by my cousin, I get into the seasonal mood. I hope you will enjoy this as much as I have each year. Curl up with your sweet bread and guava berry drink and listen as dear “Nita” describes to her grandson about an Ole Time Christmas.
Old-Time Crucian Christmas. Whim Museum, St. Croix, USVI personal photograph by author 2013
An Ole Time Christmas written by Dominick Scott
According to my great-grandmother, Anita Moorhead in the 1920’s the Christmas season in St. Croix began after Thanksgiving. People started to get the stores ready. Most of the goods came from Denmark and England. Most of the merchants were natives; there were one or two European merchants and some Puerto Ricans. Her father Joseph Bough was a merchant at that time. Everywhere there was a festive air. The stores would be decorated with garlands and other Christmas decoration like colored lanterns.
Women with large wooden trays sat under the galleries of Company Street and King Street selling candies. The candies were all homemade. They were: coconut sugar cakes that were colored brown, pink and white; brown, white, or pink losenges; peppermint candies; peanut sugar cake, and dundaslau.
“Coming Home to St Croix” Old time candy, St. Croix USVI personal photograph by author 2015
There was also a candy that was similar to a lollipop that was shaped in the form of an animal to which a stick has been inserted called sugar babies. The sticks were decorated with allkinds of colored paper. Sweet Breads and all kinds of buns were sold. Rusk was a small sweet bun that twas cut in half and baked until it became very hard and crusty. People ate it with their tea.
On Christmas Eve night, the streets were crowded with people because most everybody lived in town. The only people who lived in the country were those who worked on the estates. There were no fireworks as there is today, but people would walk around blowing horns and lighting Roman candles and firing thunderbolts. After church, carolers went about the streets singing Christmas carols and visiting various homes. They were given money, sweet bread, guava berry liqueur or cherry herring drink.
Sweet bread and ham were delicacies for the season. Breakfast on Christmas morning consisted of sweet bread and ham with cocoa or tea. All during the season sweet bread and ham were eaten for breakfast. Dinner was either baked chicken or duck, which was usually raised by the family. There was no cold storage. There was only an ice box. With the chicken or duck, potato stuffing and home gown vegetables like beets, carrots, corn, or string beans were eaten. There were no soda factories. The common drinks were maubi, ginger beer, or punch made from many of our fruits – guava, gooseberry, plum, sour sop and tamarind. People visited families and friends after dinner. One would always be served sweet bread, guava berry liqueur, cherry herring, or Danish brandy.
Christmas Second Day was one of great celebrations. There were masquerades dancing throughout the streets from noon until six in the evening. This occurred on all the streets not just down one street. People would look out their window and the troupes would stop and dance under the windows. People would throw down money for them. Some people would follow the troupes that they liked best, just like today when people follow a tramp. The types of troupes were The Bull, David and Goliath, Donkey Want Water, Indians, Mocko Jumbies and other pretty troupes.
Personal photograph by author 2015
Christmas at that time was joyous and safe. There were no crimes or violence. Everyone had a good time.
On March 19, 2015 we lost our dear relative, she was 97 years old. Nita=Nice.
Source:
http://www.visharoots.org/ St. Croix Population Database
http://home.ancestry.com/ US Federal Census, 1920,1930,1940
In Celebration of Life Anita Bough Moorhead. St. Croix: funeral booklet., 2015.
Scott, Dominick. “Ole Time Christmas.” (class composition)
Amy Johnson Crow “no story too small” suggested that we write a story about an ancestor who probably received coal in the their stocking
Looking for naughty ancestors was a fun task. The ancestor who got coal in the stocking was Ernest Bough. He is the son of Julius Bough and Bernice Rowell, both of the Virgin Islands and who migrated to New York. In our family, I remember hearing, as children, the anxiety the adults would have speaking about Uncle Ernest, who ran away from home. But my thoughts were different coming from a family with immense rules and etiquette. I would cheer him “yippy yi Ya”. I viewed him childlike as one being a courageous and adventurous runaway. But now, with research and oral history, Ernest Bough was the adult who served in the military and never returned home. I came to thinking why would he just vanish, and cause the family so much heartache, headache, and stress. He ended up in Detroit, Michigan, never to be heard of or seen again. So, I decided to stir the Pot.
Research revealed that Ernest B. Bough had served over 10 years in the military between 1932 – 1946, with the New York National Guard and the US Army. By 1934, he was married to Rosalia Benjamin of St. Croix. By 1937 he received an honorable discharge from the National Guard. It is at this point that Ernest B. Bough never returned to his family, nor did they hear from him again. The research supported the oral history that Ernest went to Detroit, Michigan.
So it hit me that he went to Detroit because it was booming with the Auto Industry. He thought he would return home when loaded, or he heard about Motown and wanted to audition for Berry Gordy. (Poking fun) Listed in the “Classified Business section for complete list for Businesses and Professions” for Dearborn, Michigan City Directory, 1941 was Ernest B. Bough, Porter in Garfield Detroit. (huh)
Ernest, at 32 years old enlisted in the US Army for 2 years. In February 1951, he then married Maggie Kelso from Martin, Tennessee by all standards; they were farm people who became a part of the “Great Migration”. Those were they who were fleeing the South going North or West for a better life filled with hopes and aspirations. Still, all in all, Ernest B. Bough died on February 7, 1973 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was 61 years old.
What brought Ernest from New York to Detroit could have been the fact that his mother, Beatrice, was married to a Gentleman by the name of Lonnie Haddon of Ohio who lived in Michigan. Did he have any children? Why didn’t he send word to his New York family he left behind is all left unknown? One thing I know for sure, regardless of the situation his behavior was naughty. Yes, my Great Uncle Ernest probably received coal in his stocking.
Sources:
Photo by Getty Images {link to http://www.freeimages.com}.
http://www.visharoots.org/ St. Croix Population Database
Ancestry.com New York, U.S. National Guard Enlistment Cards, 1917 – 1954,
Ancestry.com: 1910 US Federal Census
Ancestry.com: 1920 US Federal Census
Ancestry.com : New York, New York Marriage Index 1866 – 1937
Ancestry.com: Michigan Marriage Records 1867 – 1952
Wikipedia: History of Detroit.
Ancestry.com : US Directories 1822 – 1995
Ancestry.com Michigan Department of Vital and Health Records, Michigan Deaths 1971 – 1996
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