Ep 26 - Pitchfork Assisted Words With God

Back from summer break, we get back into the intriguing world of genealogy and family history while sharing stories, anecdotes, and updates of our own family research. From family lore about lightning strikes and pitchforks to hinting about the roots of their ancestors in places like Millinocket, Maine, and Sleepy Hollow, New York, Kim and Laura take you on a journey through the fascinating world of family history. Don't miss out on their tips, tidbits, and tales about uncovering the past and connecting with relatives you never knew existed. Tune in for a dose of genealogical inspiration and discovery.

Transcript

Kim: 0:33

Hello, and welcome back to Chasing Hazel's Tales, a family history podcast presented to you by two registered nurses all around family, historians and sisters. If you've got family history, we wanna talk about it. I'm Kim McLaughlin. And I'm Laura Ireland. We're excited to be back. We're diving into genealogy and family history or whatever tidbits we find out and we always find something. I'm like a squirrel. Just go here, there, there everywhere. So I'm always looking for something. And also we have talked about David one of our fans and David has been a bit bored this summer with our podcast being on hold for the summer. So we wanna say Hi David. Hey, David, we're glad that you are here. We hope you had a good summer, but here in Maine, we didn't have a summer. It rained all the time. But now here we are the first week of September and finally the sun shows up. So We're, we're here now in the sunshine, and we'll take it.

Laura: 1:27

Yeah. We'll take whatever we can get

Kim: 1:29

here. I know it was, it was bad. I, and I feel bad for all the people who needed rain and we had it all. Yeah. It, it all came, or

Laura: 1:37

those who planned vacations in July. Yeah. And came here and it was just not very nice, you know, but,

Kim: 1:43

but. We're sorry, but you know. Yeah. It is what it is. Yeah. And so just a reminder, Hazel was our paternal grandmother and she's the reason that we started this podcast because, well, you just have to listen to understand

Laura: 1:58

and you know, we still think about Hazel every day and talk about her quite a bit, and it's a bit of a wistful longing to know more about her, even though we found out quite a bit for me. You know, I'd still just always wanna know more, but I think we've probably gotten as far as we're going to. don't you think Kim?

Kim: 2:15

I think, I don't know how much more new there is to know, but it's still, I would love to talk to anybody who knew her, so Right. You know, but there's, there's fewer of those people around anymore, so. Correct. We were lucky to talk to Maxine last year, So anybody, if there's anybody out there who knows anybody who knew our grandmother, let us know. Right,

Laura: 2:37

right. Yep. You know, and there's all that love and connection given to us from somebody that we never knew and we've, we've just been on a, on a journey to discover. So, but you know, we may not have known her, but. Boy, did we give it a try? You might call it a mission. Trying to solve a mystery.'cause you know what? life would've been just fine if we never had the information we found out about our, our father's misattributed parentage. we had, we were raised in a nice family, great relatives, but like you always like to call it Kim, that bonus pack or expansion pack of relatives that we found out after all of this discovery of the other family is just icing on the cake. They've all been so wonderful and have been open and accepting of the situation of us and couldn't have, we couldn't appreciate them anymore. I don't think so.

Kim: 3:28

So I I have one thought. So you said, you said, you know, we would've been just fine had we never known, you know,'cause we are fine, but, right. What do you think happens because we always talked about the unthought known, we always had that inkling that there was something amiss. Something wasn't quite right. Something had

Laura: 3:43

run amuck.

Kim: 3:44

Yes, amuck. And we knew it, but we didn't know what it was, and we just mm-hmm. You know, what do you think happens to that after years and years and years and years? You know, I mean, yeah. I don't, I, you die with that inkling, so to speak,

Laura: 3:55

and I don't know. That kind of thought has been running through my mind as well, because it's like, it was a, it was a. Thing that happened. So, you know, with, with at least our father, possibly one of his sisters not being Hazel's husband's child. Yeah. And it was apparently a well-known fact. Right. For people who knew them at the time. So, but those people, as we just discussed, there's not many of those people around anymore. Mm-hmm. So just that whole fact, you know, would've been gone over time. I think. I mean, had we not done this, we just wouldn't have

Kim: 4:36

known. Right. Yeah. And to me it's just like, but is the inkling a bit of a I don't know, like a, like a thorn in your side that you just don't know why it's there? Kind of bit, you know, like the pebble in your shoe? Yeah. Mm-hmm. It's a pebble in shoe. You don't know why it's there, but you know. And, and many people go to their graves this way, which is fine. Right. But for me, it's like we'd still have that inkling, we'd still have that. Mm-hmm. Wanting to know. Now we know, and we, and we always say what kind of a relief it is anyway. Right. Right. Just, just

Laura: 5:07

knowing the story just has made it better.

Kim: 5:10

Yeah. It made everything better. Right. And I don't know if that's true for everybody, but for me, I just thought, I'm glad. I know. And I'm glad that that little inkling about that is gone. But anyway. Right.

Laura: 5:21

I, I completely agree. Yep. So, For anybody who's just joining us, I think we'd recommend going back to the beginning of our podcast, getting to know Hazel and hearing the whole story. So you can catch up with what went on. We told the story of our puzzling d n a discovery, how we unraveled the years old family secrets that, you know, were kept from us, whether you know, I mean, not maliciously or right. Anything like that. It's just those, it was just the. What happened at the time, you know, that's the way things were dealt with.

Kim: 5:55

Right. So that was the norm. That's what they did. Yeah.

Laura: 5:58

And our certain, our family was certainly not the only one who did that. Right,

Kim: 6:02

right. So anyway, that's where we were last year. And we're carrying on'cause it doesn't end. Everybody has a story and we'd love to tell it. But I do wanna update everybody. Last year we did talk about. You know, we had the Nikolai family story, which was my husband's family, and last spring we told the story about Salvatore and Ruth. And that was several episodes long and that was a really great story too. But we wanna re, you know, remind you that July 29th. The hundredth anniversary of Salvatore and Ruth's Nicolai's wedding, and the family showed up in August and celebrated all things Italian and got to mingle and reminisce about the Italian roots. It was a really, really great affair and the sun showed up.

Laura: 6:47

That was pretty impressive, I have to say. I saw the pictures and it was very impressive. It looked like a great time.

Kim: 6:52

It was, there was a lot of people, 84 or more. 84 was the last count, and there had to have been more. So it was such a good time and I'll put some pictures out on social media and they even published a story in the Lincoln News. So you know, it turned out to be really a, a nice thing. So I just wanted to update everybody to tell you that it did happen. It happened in the sun. There was no rain, and the temperatures were fair. It was nice. It was a good day. And the kids had a blast. And all the adults and I call'em now, the, the elders, you know, they were the cousins and now they're, they're you know, carrying on the torch, mm-hmm. And they all get together, reminisced. And it was really great. It was, it was fun. So, where are we going this fall? What are we gonna talk about? We have several things. First thing I wanna discuss is Millinocket Maine. You know, we, we love Maine and so we wanna talk about it. And we'll, we'll do that next week. We have a lot of family there and stories to tell and we'll, we'll get going on that. That's right. And.

Laura: 7:53

There's, there's so much about Millinocket, and actually for me, it's on both sides. Mm-hmm. For, for us and also for my husband. Right. But Millinocket is the gateway to Mount Katahdin voted world's best hike by National Geographic and home to the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. A lot of people, That's right. Well,

Kim: 8:16

they flock

Laura: 8:17

there. They flock. Yes. Mm-hmm. Huge numbers. Right. And we have, we have deep roots in that area. Our ancestors lived there a hundred or so years ago, and we have some great stories about that.

Kim: 8:31

Have you ever had an, have had an inkling to wanna climb that mountain?

Laura: 8:35

I do. I really wish I could right now. Oh, I, I don't

Kim: 8:38

want to very badly. Just so you know, I don't. Yeah, but it,

Laura: 8:42

it looks kind of intimidating, I have

Kim: 8:44

to say it. Well, and that's, and that's the reason why people do it, is because, well, you can do it. I mean, it's, and it's fairly safe, I think. But I mean it, it's, it's a big goal for a lot of people, so, yay. And yeah. But it is typically

Laura: 8:58

a person ought to be pretty good in shape. Yeah. For doing, attempting something like that.

Kim: 9:03

So, you know, I think, you know, people go up and down in a day and that's fine, but I don't, I don't know. I think I need more than that. You just

Laura: 9:10

need to be smart about it and Yeah. Me going up right now would not be smart about, so

Kim: 9:14

that's, oh, anyway, so there's another, there's a book I wanna mention. It's called Within Katahdin's Realm. Log drives and sporting camps by Bill Geller. So I was shown this book because I have an interest in Millinocket and our, our ancestry the book title, log drives and sporting camps. I went, oh my goodness, wait a minute. Sporting camps, you know, we know about that. And so I was shown this book. By my friend Rita, and I was hooked and I went directly to the Millinocket Historical Society and I purchased it. So Bill Geller has many books about Katahdin and if you want some well source. That was my, my biggest thing was how well sourced it was. Everything he wrote about was sourced and true. And the pictures and the stories were great. So if you want some well sourced information about the region and its history, This is where to start. And they have'em at the Millinocket Historical Society. And when I went to the Millinocket Historical Society, the ladies there were lovely. And I told them what I was looking for and we chatted and I kept them there after their closing time. And I apologized, no, really? I said, dang, I just got here. I don't wanna leave. But It's worth a stop there to get those books and to see what he's written and they have much knowledge and they also have a Facebook page. So I'll link some things to our social media, but they're well worth a shout out. And if you've got family, you know, ancestry up there, those, they've got books for you. Mm-hmm.

Laura: 10:44

Yeah, it's quite, Millinocket has quite a history. It's very, very interesting. It's very, Very Maine in right, in quotation marks. Right. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. We can explain that later.

Kim: 10:58

Yeah.

Laura: 11:01

But I think most people will know what we talking about. Right. Anybody who's listening. But we also need to mention that we're gonna be talking about Sleepy Hollow New York. We have family roots there and I bet many others do too. And ours are pretty. Pretty ancient, wouldn't you say?

Kim: 11:16

For for the United States? It is,

Laura: 11:18

yeah. For, yes. Yeah, we have to

Kim: 11:21

say that because, but for, if you're not native to the United States, then this is ancient. Right. If you're not a native in, in one of the native tribes, right?

Laura: 11:30

About as far back as it goes for mm-hmm. European ancestry in the United States, right? Mm-hmm. But so it just so happens we have a trip planned for the end of October. I. It's gonna be fun. So we'll talk about that. It's gonna be a big birthday for somebody and it also coincides with October themed festivities and Sleepy Hollow. So it should be a creepy good time.

Kim: 11:56

A creepy, sleepy good. That's right.

Laura: 11:59

So yeah. So we've talked about a little bit before. We've got that Dutch ancestry, that's where the Dutch settlers were prior to the American Revolution. And now we're gonna go visit and see what it's all about and have some

Kim: 12:13

fun. Right. It's gonna be good. Awesome.

Laura: 12:16

Yeah. And we've also connected with a few other family historians and they have some stories to tell as well, so we'll keep you updated on that. So we're just kinda laying out. Some of our plan here, so Right. But we're gonna, we're gonna have a good time speaking with others as well,

Kim: 12:32

because everybody has a story if they, and

Laura: 12:35

that's one of my favorite things I tell people. Don't mind my questions. I, I just, I'm really interested when I get to know people. Yep. I'm just interested in people's stories. I like to, I like to find

Kim: 12:46

out. Right. That's all. And we'll be, we'll be going over some of those. And so, and also if any of you think of anything you wanna, wanna let us know, any tidbits or any stories or connections we want to talk to you. This this week's tidbit, I have a tidbit over the summer.'cause all you have to do is just mention it to me and I'll, oh, let me just look up the tree. I go, you know, and I look on the computer and, and let me just do a little basic tree for you and see what we found out. But I was talking with my sister-in-law and her question, you know, basically was she had been told about, Her great-great-grandfather. His name was Alford Gordon, and she knew about him, but she doesn't know much past, you know, whoever came before him per se. And her real interest was they were Scottish, so they were told. Generally when you're told that by, you know, family historians, it's true, but there's really no proof of it. So I said, well, I'll look that up just a minute. You know, so we talked about her family a little bit and they so her great-grandfather was Alfred and he was spelled a L f o r d, Alfred Gordon. He was born 1808 in Warren, Maine, and he died 1878 in Winn, Maine. So that's her great-great-grandfather. And so you wouldn't expect maybe to find a whole lot. Of you know, you find your, the usual stuff you'd see a cat tail, your picture. Laura has cats running around. She,

Laura: 14:13

she came to visit. She's

Kim: 14:14

very interested. Yeah, well, she is interested. my sister-in-law had questions about the Gordon's and about where they came from in Scotland. And, you know, all you have to do is just start looking So I did, I just did a few things. I started a little tree and started looking stuff up. I kind of got stuck with Alfred because I couldn't find his parents or his birth certificate, but, but that's beside the point. So, but what I did was, when I first started looking online, of course, and, and I will say this in, you know, this is my soapbox, this is why I love ancestry.'cause then you connect with so many other people that are also. Doing the same work that you are. So there was another person mm-hmm. Who had the same person in their tree and they had a picture and of Alfred. And I thought, well, you know, he was, he died in 1878, so this picture is, you know, pretty old. And anyway, so I got the picture and I said, holy God. I looked at it and I thought, well, all right. So I saved it and I wanted to show it to my sister-in-law and She had, the reason she had started asking questions was She had a family bible that was in her possession and had some stories. She started reminiscing. Once you start looking at that stuff, she goes, oh yeah, I remember this story. I remember that story. And so then I came back to her about a week later and I showed her the picture of Alfred and I just showed the picture to Laura. And so I'll have Laura just give you a description of what she sees.

Laura: 15:36

Well, he does look, he does give the impression of being a good Scotsman. Yeah, I'll just say that off the bat. He's yeah, but it's, and for the time period, I, it's a nice, clear picture. Actually

Kim: 15:51

that picture I gave you, I put through, I. Some sort of app and it cleared it up. It wasn't that clear, so, oh, okay. It was a little fuzzier.

16:02

But

Laura: 16:02

did you change his eye color or hair color or anything like that? No, I did. Okay. Alright. But, so anyway, he looks, I mean, it's a great picture, but the thing, it's, it's striking the scarring on his face. Right. The thing that you notice, I mean, the first thing that I notice is he's got these beautiful blue eyes. That's what I see. Yeah. He's got some beautiful blue eyes, but he's got this scarring on the right side of his face that it either looks like a tiger scratched his face. Right. But I think there's a different story Right.

Kim: 16:37

That goes along with that. Yeah. So I showed this. To my sister-in-law, Stephanie, and she said, oh my God. So to her, with the second she saw that picture, she immediately knew what had happened. And evidently this Alfred, he was a farmer in Winn, Maine. And she said that she had heard a story of fam, you know, family lore. Everybody hears family lore. And it said that he had been struck by lightning while out in the field. A pitchfork in his hand, and you think, what are the, what are the chances, right? So, I mean, that's a, that makes a really great story. But would you have believed it if you hadn't seen that picture?

Laura: 17:25

And, but it makes me wonder, like, did he fall down in the pitchfork, fall in his face? Was the pitchfork hot? Is that why it burned his face? Like, I don't, yep. You know what I mean? Because those are clearly lines probably from the pitchfork,

Kim: 17:38

right? And one passes right over his eye, which looks like it was scarred a bit. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm gonna put this picture on social media so that everyone is, he cursing

Laura: 17:49

the weather and holding the pitchfork up, and that's how he got struck

Kim: 17:52

by the lightning trip. Then she said, she, so let's, what she said was, this is better than Ripley's, believe it or not. She said, yeah, it's like nothing like an angry farmer in the middle of a hay field having a few pitchfork assisted words with God, and God said no. Yeah, whatever it is you're talking about, or whatever you're cursing or whatever's going on. No. And so that was the family lore. That was, that was, you know, brought down through and she probably never gave it a second thought until she saw the picture. Yep. So,

Laura: 18:25

well, that's a great story.

Kim: 18:26

That is a great story. I said that it's a great story and a great picture, and so I said that's just another reason why sharing on ancestry.com means so much to other people. Right. You don't know. You don't know who you're, you know who you're helping or who you're right. Connecting with until you, you know, until this point. And did she

Laura: 18:43

know this person who had the picture in their tree? I don't think so.

Kim: 18:45

Okay. I don't think so. But we're still having I, I've kind of put it aside a bit. That was my summer little, that was a, that was fun, but I've put it aside for a bit. And I'll continue looking'cause she wants to know where in Scotland this Gordon family came from. Mm-hmm. So if anybody that is out there and is related to Alfred Gordon and I think I've got some more on his tree, but I don't go much further back than him other than he was born in 1808 and Warren, Maine. Yeah. And I found some documents and someone, I don't have the name. Someone wrote a really great genealogy and it's in the Bango public Library. And they, you know, they gave a copy to the Bango public library. It's really thick. It's really well done. Yeah. And I'm very impressed with it. I gave that me information to Stephanie and told her that's where you need to go and read that book. Yeah. So another, and then shout out to the Bango Public Library in Bango, Maine. They have a fabulous genealogy section and wonderful people to help you. Nice. Nice. So that was my fun trip. You know, that to me that's fun. Going to the library and, and looking for things. But that was fabulous. Yep. Anyway, so that's my little tidbit for this week. But you never know what the tidbits gonna be next week.'cause they come at me all the time. I just find these really funny things. So our tip for

Laura: 20:01

the week is not to stand out in the middle of a field with a pitchfork. Right. In a light, in a thunder

Kim: 20:04

and lightning storm, because it does happen. Mm. Yeah. I always think, what are the chances? Well, and as a side note, our father, Laura and my Roscoe was struck by lightning. Yes. And what are the chances of that? But it, yeah, it happened. So he survived. He survived it, just so you know. But it was. That was a strange phone call to get to. Yeah. Anyway, so those are the tidbits. Tell us any cool stories. Yeah,

Laura: 20:33

yeah. So, and please rate, review, and follow us on your favorite podcast platform. We also invite you to reach out to us by email at chasing hazel's tails@gmail.com. Tell us your tales, or share what you have learned or found interesting about your family. You can also follow us or contact us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or is it now called x? I don't know. No. Or TikTok? I,

Kim: 20:59

I don't keep up with it. You can certainly reach us on Twitter, which is now X, but I don't spend a whole lot of Hazel time on. Twitter, just, I mean, X, whatever it is, it's just not, you know, that's not a story, but Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, occasionally TikTok. Until next week. All right. Goodbye. Bye.