Look How Far We've Come. The First to Marry and the Next.

Chandler, The Next in our Family to Marry 2011

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Yesterday I received an invitation to attend my niece's wedding. Chandler will marry an Idaho boy named Randall. Their invitation reminded me of another wedding invitation recently found in Grandma Elda's things.

Kim, the First in our Family to Marry (1973)

After some searching I found the invitation tucked away in a book of Grandma's corespondents. I opened the envelope and removed its contents. I reread the invitation, written on a piece of fairly generic stationary purchased at Kmart in Rapid City. Then I looked again at Chandler's wedding invitation and a thought struck me;

"Look how far our family has come over the years."

I'm continuously amazed at what our parents accomplished as we were growing up. We were a family of ten living in a small lower middle class home in Rapid City, South Dakota. We lived on Dad's small State highway salary and what Mom was able to earn doing various jobs. Our parents found a way to make what we had stretch. There were times the stretching nearly broke the bank, but we made it and are the better for it.

The eight of us have all gone our separate ways and accomplished much. Let's remember those humble beginnings as illustrated in Kim's hand written wedding invitation and celebrate where we are today, as illustrated in Chandler's.

It causes me to pause and be grateful for what God has given and lessons I've learned along life's road.

Simply,
Victor

Our 11th Great Grandparents. Persecuted Religious Reformers

French Huguenots Lovers Painted in the Time of our Great Grandparents

From the Fortress of Solitude

Pleasant Grove

Happy Independence Day!
So far a quiet day at the Fortress. I woke early and drove to Timp Cave to hike the cave trail. Its a great 3 mile walk up the mountain and back again. This afternoon I'm working on family history. This evening we have friends and family over to watch Pleasant Grove's fireworks from the decks. The view is fantastic considering the fireworks are launched from the junior high school at the bottom of the hill.

Regular visitors to our digital family reunions here at the Fortress have heard me say over and over again how surprised I am when I uncover more facts describing how fiercely independent our ancestors were on both sides of the family. Today I wanted to post something more about, considering the holiday.

I learned something new today about a group of people called Walloons. The Walloons, who live in Belgium's southern provinces, are the country's French-speaking inhabitants. Their culture contrasts with that of the Flemings, who inhabit the northern part of the country and speak Flemish, a language similar to Dutch. The Walloons' closest cultural ties are to France and other countries in which Romance languages are spoken.

In the fifth century AD the Franks, a Germanic people, invaded the region that includes modern Belgium. They gained the most power in the northern area, where early forms of the Dutch language took hold. In the south, the Roman culture and Latin-based dialects continued to flourish. During the feudal period between the ninth and twelfth centuries AD , the Flemish and Walloon cultures continued developing along separate lines.

John Calvin

Our 11th Great Grandparents were French speaking Walloons. They turned their backs on the dominant Catholic religion of Belgium and France and became Huguenots (members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France / French Calvinists). Protestants in France were inspired by the writings of John Calvin in the 1530s and the name Huguenots was already in use by the 1560s. By the end of the 17th century, roughly 200,000 Huguenots had been driven from France during a series of religious persecutions. They relocated primarily in protestant nations: England, Switzerland, the Dutch Republic, the German Electorate of Prussia, the German Palatinate, and elsewhere in Northern Europe, as well as to what is now South Africa and to North America.

Huguenots became known for their harsh criticisms of doctrine and worship in the Catholic Church from which they had broken away, in particular the sacramental rituals of the Church and what they viewed as an obsession with death and the dead. They believed that the ritual, images, saints, pilgrimages, prayers, and hierarchy of the Catholic Church did not help anyone toward redemption. They saw Christian life as something to be expressed as a life of simple faith in God, relying upon God for salvation, and not upon the Church's sacraments or rituals, while obeying Biblical law.

Like other religious reformers of the time, they felt that the Catholic Church needed radical cleansing of its impurities, and that the Pope ruled the Church as if it was a worldly kingdom, which sat in mocking tyranny over the things of God, and was ultimately doomed. Rhetoric like this became fiercer as events unfolded, and eventually stirred up a reaction in the Catholic establishment.

The Catholic Church in France opposed the Huguenots, and there were incidents of attacks on Huguenot preachers and congregants as they attempted to meet for worship. The height of this persecution was the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre when 5,000 to 30,000 were killed. The Huguenots, retaliating against the French Catholics, frequently took up arms, even forcibly taking a few Catholic cities. Many Catholic monuments and shrines were destroyed in this action, a result of the Huguenots' iconoclasm.

The Huguenots took part in anti-Catholic movements in England during the reign of Henry VIII. They were hired by Henry VIII to suppress various Catholic orders in England. They were responsible for confiscation of many of the Catholic Church's possessions at the time on behalf of the king.

St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre

In what became known as the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 24 August – 3 October 1572, Catholics killed thousands of Huguenots in Paris. Similar massacres took place in other towns in the weeks following. The main provincial towns and cities experiencing the Massacre were Aix, Bordeaux, Bourges, Lyon, Meaux, Orleans, Rouen, Toulouse, and Troyes. Nearly 3,000 Protestants were slaughtered in Toulouse alone.The exact number of fatalities throughout the country is not known. On the 23–24 August, between about 2,000 and 3,000 Protestants were killed in Paris and between 3,000 and 7,000 more in the French provinces. By 17 September, almost 25,000 Protestants had been massacred in Paris alone. Outside of Paris, the killings continued until the 3 October. An amnesty granted in 1573 pardoned the perpetrators.

Over time most French Huguenots were forced to convert to Catholicism, because they did not want to emigrate or they could not. More than three-quarters of the Protestant population finally converted to Catholicism; the others (more than 200,000) moved to different countries.

An estimated 50,000 Protestant Walloons and Huguenots fled to England, about 10,000 of whom moved on to Ireland around the 1690's. In relative terms, this could be the largest wave of immigration of a single community into Britain ever.

Of the refugees who arrived on the Kent coast, many gravitated towards Canterbury, then the county's Calvinist hub, where many Walloon and Huguenot families were granted asylum. Edward VI granted them the whole of the Western crypt of Canterbury Cathedral for worship. This privilege in 1825 was reduced to the south aisle and in 1895 to the former chantry chapel of the Black Prince. Services are still held there in French according to the Reformed tradition every Sunday at 3pm.

Huguenot District of Canterbury England as it looks today

Other evidence of the Walloons and Huguenots in Canterbury includes a block of houses in Turnagain Lane where weavers' windows survive on the top floor, and 'the Weavers', a half-timbered house by the river (now a restaurant - see illustration above). The house derives its name from a weaving school which was moved there in the last years of the 19th century, resurrecting the use to which it had been put between the 16th century and about 1830. Many of the refugee community were weavers. Others practised the variety of occupations necessary to sustain the community distinct from the indigenous population, as such separation was the condition of the refugees' initial acceptance in the City. They also settled elsewhere in Kent, particularly Sandwich, Faversham and Maidstone - towns in which there used to be refugee churches.

Our 11th Great Grandparents Jacques Le Mahieu and Jenne Laman were among those who fled to Canterbury England. They spent their time between England and Holland. Is it any wonder that Henry VIII used these Protestants to help him confiscate the Catholic religious houses in England?

Their daughter Hester married our 10th Great Grandfather and Mayflower passenger Francis Cooke. Hester and Francis emigrated to North America and died in Plymouth MA.

Relationship Chart

11th Great Grandparents
Jacques Le Mahieu born 1559 in Leyland Holland. Died before 1611. and
Jenne Laman born 1553 in Lille, Walloon, Flanders.
to
Francis Cooke and Hester Mayhieu
to
LT. John Tomson and Mary Cooke
to
William Swift and Elizabeth Tomson
to
Ebenezer Swift and Abigail Gibbs
to
Ebenezer Swift and Jedidah Benson
to
Judah Swift and ?
to
Phineas Swift and Deborah Dearborn
to
Elmira Swift and Joseph McCrillis
to
Isabel McCrillis and John Mayberry Dennis
to
Vesta Dennis and Walter Pierce
to
Violet Pierce and Walter Mattson
to
Luella Mattson and Charles Williamson
to
Us

Family Culture. Music of the Tudors

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Hello All,
Tonight from the Fortress I share a piece of music well know to our ancestors who lived in England during the reign of the Tudors (Henry VIII, Edward, Mary and finally Elizabeth I). This piece of music was heard and loved by our ancestors, many of whom lived and worked in the Tudor Court as we've learned from previous posts.

Today, music plays an important part of in our lives. How many of us have hundreds, if not thousands, of soundtracks on our iPods and other electronic devices? We can't imagine living without this music written to excite and calm, written to carry us away to some other place far from the here and now.

Music was just as important, if not more so, to our ancestors. Imagine their delight in learning that traveling minstrels would be visiting their village performing songs they knew so well and introducing them to the latest compositions. Visualize them crowded around a stage, anxiously waiting to hear the popular music of their time, such as A Robyn, Gentyl Robyn by William Cornysh.

Our Great Uncle Ray Vercellino's Retirement and Career

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Hello All,
I found this newspaper clipping in a book of cards and letters kept by Dad's mother, Grandma Leissman (Elda Vercellino).

It tells the story of Great Uncle Ray Vercellino (Elda's eldest brother). It's a fascinating read about a man who spent 48 years working for Western Union, starting as a telegraph operator and rising through the ranks to become a national manager. The clipping is too small to read in its fully scanned state so I broke it up and posted it below. It's a bit choppy but don't let that stop you from reading about his interesting life.

The Vercellino's in Lead South Dakota. Grandma Elda is seated, her mother then
Great Uncles Ed and Ray.

Ray Vercellino as a young man working for Western Union.

Simply,
Victor

The Life of Thomas Massey, Servant of our 8th Great Grandparents (Williamson Line)

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Hello All,
On Friday I celebrated my 53rd rotation around the sun on this bright blue marble in space. Its been an interesting ride and surprisingly enough I've not tired of it. Every day brings new challenges, laughter, frustration and the occasional tear. It's all part of being human. Thank you for the kind wishes and remarks.

Researching and writing family history makes me painfully aware that life is short and every day should be cherished. Every day I scour over genealogy records. I record births, marriages and deaths. All numbers to be typed into the computer. Then I'll stop and remember that each birth record was a day of joy for my ancestors and each death a day of great sadness. I read our ancestor's stories. I marvel at their zeal for life. I take joy in their spirit and resilience and feel sadness for their pain and suffering.

Many of our ancestors died young due to disease, injury or childbirth. Many died well before my current age. It makes me grateful to wake up every morning knowing I've been given another day to do my best and make a positive difference in the world.

I will continue to search them out and tell their stories, knowing that one day my final number, like their's, will be written as a matter of record, and my story will be given a concluding period. When I meet them in that field beyond the River Styx, I want to embrace them and proclaim, "I know you!" That alone will be the greatest gift I can give - the happiness which comes from knowing you were not forgotten.

Today in our digital reunion we read more about our Great Grandparents Francis and Grace Stanfield and their servant Thomas Massey (the emphasis being on Thomas). First, the Relationship Chart.

Relationship Chart

Francis Stanfield b. 1642 England. married Grace Achelly b. 1646 England.
to
Sarah Stansfield b. ? England. married Edward Bennett b. 1656. England
to
Joseph Bennet b. 1704 Pennsylvania. married Rebecca Fincher b. 1704.
to
Phebe Bennett. married John Willis
to
Bennett Willis married Katherine Nosseman
to
Jonathan Willis married Anabella Phlegar
to
Margaret Ann Willis married George Matthew Williamson
to
William J. Williamson married Effie Helen Victor
to
Vennie, Ima Della, Inez, Lillie Ethel, Josie, Emmett, Walt, Charles married Elda, Maurice.
to
Charles Williamson married Luella Mattson
to
Kim, Victor, Kevin, Jon, Janice, Jilane, Lisa, Annette.

Francis Stanfield was born in Garton, Cheshire, England. His parent's names and his birth date are unknown at this time. He was a farmer by trade and a Quaker by religion. He married Grace probably around 1668.

Francis and Grace immigrated to American in 1683. They arrived in Pennsylvania aboard the ship "Endeavour", George Thorpe, Master, on the 29th of July 1683. They brought all six of their children and nine servants. Five of the servant's names are known: Dan Brown, John Smith, Robert Ryan, William Rudway and Thomas Sidbotham, and Thomas Massey.

The Stanfields settled in Marple Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania.

William Penn organized the "Provincial Assembly" on the 11th of May 1685. The Assembly was the local governing authority and met in Philadelphia on the 10th of each month. Francis was one of the six representatives from Chester County.

Marple Township Quaker meetings were held in the Stanfield home from 1686 until a meeting house was built in 1688.

Thomas Massey was baptised on 1 Oct 1665 in Saint Mary's Church, Nantwich (near Marple), Cheshire, England. He is believed to have been the son of HENRY MASSEYof Sale and HANNAH SIDEBOTHAM. Henry Massey died in 1675 leaving a will, requesting that his son Thomas be apprenticed, as he was yet under age.

Thomas was baptised and brought up in the Church of England (Anglican). He did not become a Quaker until his association with Francis Stanfield, who invited him to sail along to the New World and lent him the money for the fare. Thomas is recorded as a passenger on the Ketch Endeavour out of Liverpool, England. The Endeavour left England sometime after 11 July 1683 and arrived in the Delaware river on 29 Sep 1683. The passengers disembarked at Upland, which is now Chester, Pennsylvania. They were members of the new Quaker sect, most being from Cheshire. Many had been persecuted for their beliefs, fined, imprisoned and their property confiscated. William Penn had promised them religious freedom in his new colony Pennsylvania.
Twenty three Quaker families with children and servants were aboard the Endeavour. They had purchased land before leaving England. On the Endeavour passenger list were entered the names of Francis Stanfield and his wife Grace, their six children and eight servants, amongst whom, Thomas Massey.

Thomas Massey served out his term of indenture to Francis Stanfield and, as was usual, received fifty acres of land from his master, and another fifty from William Penn. By 1692, at the age of 29, Thomas had saved some money and sought to marry. With Thomas on the Endeavour was a thirteen year old girl, Phebe Taylor, who had come with her mother and seven brothers and sisters to join their father, Robert. On 20 October 1692 at the Springfield Meeting, Thomas Massey married Phebe Taylor. He was then twenty nine years old, she was twenty two.

Phebe Taylor was born 15 June 1670 in Little Leigh, Cheshire, England. She was the daughter of ROBERT TAYLOR and MARY HAYES of Little Leigh. Robert Taylor went to America in the first settlement under William Penn, from whom he bought land intending to prepare a home for his family which had stayed behind in England. Having done this, he was set to return to England for them, and set for Philadelphia to take ship. To his astonishment, he met his wife and children in the streets of Philadelphia. They had just landed and were coming in search of him!

In 1696 Thomas Massey bought 300 acres of land in Marple Township from James Stanfield, son of Francis Stanfield. At this time he began to build a fine brick house for his wife Phebe as an extension of an existing log house, and he called it Marple Plantation. Seven children were born here to Phebe and Thomas before his death on 8 September 1708. In his will Thomas Massey left his plantation to his eldest son , Mordecai, with the provision that Phebe should have ''the lower room in the brick end of the house, a horse and a cow as long as she remained a widow''.

Mordecai was thirteen when his father died and his youngest sister was less than a year old. With seven children to bring up - three under the age of ten - it was no wonder that within two years Phebe married Bartholomew Coppock Jr., a widower with two children of his own. Four girls were born to this union: Rebecca, Sarah, Esther, Martha. Phebe Taylor Massey Coppock died on 27 December 1749 at Marple Plantation.

In 1731 Thomas's son Mordecai married and replaced the central log house with a stone house and kitchen. The last direct descendant of Thomas Massey to work on the house was of the fifth generation - Mary Lewis, who married George Smith, M.D. in 1829. About 1860 they added a room over the kitchen. It was fashionable at this time to have a section of siding on a house, which is why the second story of the kitchen was faced with siding on one side. Dr. Smith later became a legislator and a judge, and was the authour of The History of Delaware County published in 1862.

In 1964 The Massey House was on the verge of demolition when a descendant, Lawrence M. C. Smith bought the house and one acre of ground and gave it to the Township of Marple for restoration. Thus Thomas Massey's 17th century Plantation House, one of the oldest and most typical English-style homes in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, still stands today and has been turned into a museum.

Please take a minute and look at the following web site:

http://www.thomasmasseyhouse.org/

Another Great Grandfather in the Revolutionary War (Williamson Line)

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Hello Williamsons,

I want to first wish my Dad and all other fathers in our family a very happy Father's Day!

“When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.”

Mark Twain

Today we discover another of our Great Grandparents who fought in the Revolutionary War. Robert Layton has been designated a "Patriot" by the Maryland Daughters of the Revolution. The official citiation coming from Revolutionary records read: "Paid in 1787 for serivce in Revolutionary period." Apparently, his ht eonly member of the entire Layton family to be so designated. Our Great Grandfather Robert was born about 1739 in Delaware. He married Rosannah about 1761 and died in Sussex in late October or early November 1786.

Relationship Chart

5th Great Grandparents
Robert Layton and Rosannah
to
Hesther Layton and Major Victor
to
Elijah Victor and Unicy Hitch
to
Whitty Victor and Nancy Morris
to
Effie Helen Victor and William Jonathan Williamson
to
Vennie, Ima, Inez, Lille, Josie, Emmett, Walt, Charles and Maurice

to

Charles Williamson and Elda Vercellino
to
Charles Williamson and Luella Mattson
to
Kim, Victor, Kevin, Janice, Jon, Jilane, Lisa and Annette

Lice, The Perfect Way to End Your Week.

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Hello All,
Before I started this family history blog I wrote interesting stories about family on my work blog (Spacecenterblog.org). I've decided to take them from that blog and post them to this blog so they are recorded in the right place.

So, gather around this digital forum here at the Fortress and let me share a story of horror and redemption. In it, you'll witness members of my family at their best and worst. We travel back to July 2009. This is what happened as I returned to the Fortress from a long week at Space Camp.

Saturday, July 25, 2009 ended our last full week of camps at the Space Center. I was ready for a nice lay down when I got home. I was shutting down my computer and gathering my things when the phone rang.

“Are you sitting down?” my sister Jilane asked. Jilane is one of my five sisters. She lives one block from me in Pleasant Grove.

“Who died?” I responded as I removed my lanyard and whistle. You’re not a real teacher unless you wear a Shrieker 2000 industrial strength whistle around your neck.

“Aidia has lice.” She said as a matter of fact. At first I didn’t comprehend the ramifications of such a statement. My first reaction was to say something like “And that means what to me?” After a moment’s reflection I realized why she wanted me seated for the news.

Perhaps a bit of a back story. My sister Lisa and her three children are staying at the Fortress for the summer. They return to California at the start of the school year. Aidia is her daughter. She has two sons, Draker and Caden. Many of you that work at the Space Center met Draker at camp this summer.

This last week The Fortress became The Fortress Discount Lodge and Home for the Elderly and Senile. The following extra guests checked in for a week’s stay:

• My sister Annette and her four children.
• My aunt and uncle from Arizona.
• Our permanent residents, my parents Charles and Luella whooccupy a small mother in law apartment in the dungeon. They are still able to function normally, drive and use the toilet but can’t be trusted with electricity and anything that is powered by it.

“Lisa wants you to check Draker for lice but don’t make a big deal of it. It will embarrass him,” Jilane added.

“Yes, I’m going out into the Voyager, take the microphone from Emily and announce to the crew and staff that I’m taking my nephew off the ship so I can check him for lice and other vermin.”

“Just do it.”

“Yes ma’am.”

I found Draker wearing a Voyager’s engineering uniform ready to go out to the Bridge to check the ship for hull fractures. I motioned for him to follow me. Emily objected saying she needed him to do the acting part first.

“Spread the joy,” I mumbled to myself. “Send him to me when he’s finished.”

A few minutes later he walked up to my desk. I asked him if he knew what ‘unclean’ meant.

“You need to take a bath?” he questioned.

“Yes, in a manner of speaking. Do you understand what happens to little boys that never bath or wash their hair?” His eyes widened expecting me to accuse him of such a thing. I stopped him before he could continue.

“Little boys that refuse to apply water and soap to their bodies can develop diseases like leprosy, scabs, leeches, and lice! I need to check you for lice. Don’t run, it won’t help. Crying will only draw attention to your condition and if word gets out that lice might be present within these walls there will be a panic and stampede not even my Shrieker 2000 can stop. Now walk quietly into the nurse’s station. Don't talk to anyone and wipe away that look of horror.”

He followed me. I put on rubber gloves and began the inspection. Several minutes later I pronounced him lice free. Draker was happy and wanted to return to the Voyager. I called Jilane and gave her the good news. Her reaction surprised me.

“Do you know what you’re looking for?” she asked. A few moments later I was driving him up to her house for the professional inspection. I’m please to announce that my initial diagnosis was correct. Draker was lice free.

I expected to see EPA agents in full biosuits at my home when Draker and I pulled into the driveway. I was pleased with how Mormony everything looked. Yes, your typical average LDS neighborhood in Utah County. I got out of the car, took in the warm summer air scented with freshly mowed grass and pondered how pleasant everything was in Pleasant Grove.

The calm and serenity came to an abrupt end when I walked into the kitchen from the garage. The kitchen counters and table were covered with every possible cleaning agent used for lice abatement available for purchase at your neighborhood WalMart. They were weapons being gathered for a major assault on the infestation eating through the hair follicles of innocent Williamson’s, Belnaps and Coronatos.

Oh the Humanity!


I carefully walked around the chemical shop on the kitchen table and into the living room. I stood in the center of the room afraid to let my body come in contact with anything that might have a moving surface. Lisa saw my predicament and rallied to my cause. She grabbed a can of lung burning Destructall spray in each hand and sprayed everything with stereo shots. Luella was trapped in a corner chair. A cloud of Destructall moved in her direction like a fog of death.

“Move!” Lisa shouted. Mother saw the fumes, rose to her feet and did a shuffle that would have been a YouTube hit if we had a camera ready to film.

Both my sisters were armed and ready for war. Their children were in bathing suits, lined up outside the Fortress' four bathrooms and ready for delousing. The children were brought in one by one, put in the tub and scrubbed from top to bottom with Nuclear Nix Lice Removal shampoo, cream, ointment, solution, and alixer. Both sisters were in their bathing suits as well so it could all be contained in the tubs.

Once the sandblasting was complete and the children’s bleeding skin bandaged, out came the lice combs and the tedious process of de -nitsing their scalps. The children’s screams were so intense mother had to leave and seek refuge at my uncle’s. I of course wasn’t bothered considering I spend all day in space blowing up children ;)

Once the unclean were proclaimed clean, the delousing of the house began. Destructall Spray was unleashed on the children’s mattresses. All the bedding, towels, blankets, pillows, clothes, etc. etc. and etc. were dumped into the back of the pick up and taken to Pleasant Grove’s only coin operated laundry mat. Several hours later and twenty five dollars in quarters lighter, the bedding was finished and pulled removed from very hot dryers.

It was after 11:00 P.M. The procedure was complete after six hours and $150.00, but the Fortress was safely nuked and ready for habitation.

I was exhausted from sitting and watching these two great mothers scrub, curse, shout, clean, clean and clean as they debated who’s child got lice first, and from where.

Today I sit in my sterilized home feeling lucky to have survived my first lice infestation. Rest your worried minds - I didn’t have lice and neither does Draker. The Space Center is therefore lice free (unless Brock has lice. We will have to check him out).

All is well and I hope and pray next week will be uneventful. Please, may I ask for boring, dull and mindless. I need boring, dull and mindless.

Mr. Williamson

Possible Spanish Jewish Blood in our Williamson Line.

Roosa Family Crest, Holland

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Hello All,
The bell rang on Friday ending the 2010-2011 school year. It was a race to see who could get out of the building the fastest, the students or the teachers. Who is left when the dust settles? You're correct, me. The end of the school year means the start of the summer camp season and we have a full slate of space camps and private programs in our simulators and planetariums. I'm pleased that all our camps filled and each has a waiting list. Full camps mean a good operating budget for the next school year.

Well, gather around and find a spot in the shade. It's time for another digital family gathering. Today we will discuss the Williamson family history through my Great Grandmother, Effie Helen Victor, wife of William Jonathan Williamson. Her mother's last name was Morris. It is my opinion Nancy Morris comes from the Morris family that originally settled New Jersey.

Although I can't be 100% certain of this branch of the family line, I will say that the majority of people that have traced their family history to the Riggs family of New England claim that a certain Edward Riggs married Elizabeth Roosa. There is a small group of genealogists that claim Elizabeth's family name was actually Rose, hence my caution that we can't be 100% sure about this branch of our family line. All I can say is that this is what the majority believe. With that said, we continue.

This is the Relationship Chart based on the majority opinion of those that have researched the Riggs family line.

RELATIONSHIP CHART

Guysbert Roosa and Maria Dircksen
to
Heyman Roosa and Metje Deroos
to
Edward Riggs and Elizabeth Roosa
to
Edward Riggs and Mary Munn
to
Edward Riggs and Alphia Stoughton
to
Mary Riggs and Daniel Morris
to
Issac Morris and Rebecca Hathaway
to
Benjamin Morris and Mary Spinning
to
Isaac Morris and ?
to
Nancy Morris and Whitty Victor
to
Effie Helen Victor and William Jonathan Williamson
to
Vennie, Ima, Inez, Lille, Josie, Emmett, Walt, Charles and Maurice Williamson
to
Us

There is evidence our probable Dutch Roosa ancestors were actually Spanish Jews who escaped the Spanish Inquisition. The following information was gleaned from several emails exchanged from family researchers detailing their evidence of the Roosa's family origin.

The name Roosa is pronounced "Rosa" in Dutch. The theory the Roose family is Spanish comes from Bert Feldman in which he states that the Roosa family were called a "Rabbinical family".

The Alhambra Decree (also known as the Edict of Expulsion) was an edict issued on 31 March 1492 by the joint Catholic Monarchs of Spain (Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon) ordering the expulsion of Jews from the Kingdom of Spain and its territories and possessions by 31 July of that year.^[1]

In 1492, the king of Spain expelled all Jews from that country, and the king of Portugal did the same a few years later. Many Jews escaped expulsion by being baptized, and continued to secretly carry out the tenets of Judaism in private. Jewish converts to Christianity were relentlessly spied upon by the Spanish Catholic Inquisition, which tortured and burned to death those who were found to be "impure" in their Christianity. Many conversos (Jews who converted to Catholism then secretly practiced their Jewish faith) made their way to Belgium and the Netherlands during the 1500's, a place to which many of their "unconverted" brethren had apparently (according to Feldman) fled earlier.


The ROOSA name first appeared in the Netherlands in the 1400's, so this lends support that the ROOSAs were "rabbinical" (and therefore openly practicing) Jews of the earlier migration, rather than "conversos" ("converted" Jews).

The "Judaic" (Talmudic) religion is passed on through the mother, rather than the father, so when Albert HEYMANS (Heyman's son), the first American ROOSA, married Wyntje DE JONGH, the family probably ceased to be "practicing" Jews. Wyntje was the daughter of a Dutch burgomaster, and therefore was most likely a Gentile. Because of Albert's parentage, though,
we can claim to be descended from one of the first Jews (possibly the first Jew) in New York.

Albert was one of the first leaders of the Wiltwyck settlement, and along with his son Arien ( = Arie, "the Lion" or "the Jew") was among those petitioning Governor Andros to provide the community with a Dutch-speaking minister. Remember that the Dutch Reformed Church in New York served as an extended family "community center" for everyone in the Dutch community, so this action of the ROOSAs may have been more motivated by community concern than by religious convictions. His daughter Wynte, though, married into the DePuy family, descended from devout Huguenots.

There is a story told to about the Black Jew's in the Netherlands. It seems that during the Spanish Inquisition the Jews were given the chance to become Christians or leave. Some of the Jewish people did turn Christian but the majority of them left and traveled northward through Germany and France. Some ended up in the Netherlands. Over the years many adopted the Christian faith.

They were called Black Jew because of their dark Spanish complexion and their marriage into Spanish families.

The following is an article written about the question of whether or not the Rossa family is of Spanish / Portugues Jewish ancestry. It is an interesting read.

I have seen a great deal of supposition regarding the possibility of the Dutch Roosas being of Spanish/Jewish origins. There seem to be two firmly rooted camps; those who unquestionably support the theory, and those who believe it to be only a "legend". Hard evidence to support either argument has yet to surface.

Bert Feldman asserted that the Roosas were "from a rabbinical family", yet nobody has been able to identify his sources for this. His being Jewish himself does not qualify him for special knowledge that would enable him to ascertain this. Strictly speaking, Mr. Feldman was, at best, an amateur historian making an educated guess. And, without his source material, we can only wonder at what information he used as a basis for his statement.

That being said, there is enough historical background material available to convince me that the assertions made by Abraham Guijsbert Roosa of the family being of Spanish origins may be true. (The Nederlandse Familienamen Databank of the Marteens Institute states that Roosa only claimed Catalon descent, nothing of Jewish origins). First and foremost, anyone bothering to look at old Dutch records will find that the name was spelled "Rosa" with one 'o'. In many instances, it is "de Rosa". Kingston Dutch Reformed Church records from the 1600's list it as "Rosa" with one O. Secondly, after culling through many available online records from the state archives of the Netherlands, I cannot find one reference to this name prior to the end of the 1400's. I did, however, find Jewish names; Coen and Haym. Jews were in Gelderland from the middle of the 14th century, particularly in Nijmegen. The main migration of Sephardin came at the end of the 16th century following Dutch independence from Spain, but there had been Jewish communities in Holland for over two centuries already.

Many Jewish families from the Catalon region of Spain did migrate to Holland. And, the city of Rosas is in this part of Spain, a region heavily populated by Jews during the middle ages. Rosa/Rosas was a Jewish family in that region.
This is where the "theory" of Roosa Spanish roots do look more than merely plausible. The coat of arms for the Roosa family (Dutch) is three stemmed roses (two over one)on a field of gold. The coat of arms for the city of Rosas Spain is three roses (two over one).

In Spanish heraldry roses were rendered more realistically than the familiar English rose, and they were shown with stems. Additionally, Spanish heraldry followed the custom of the French in presenting trinaries (groups of objects in threes). Many Sephardic Jew coats of arms followed this same rule of trinaries, particularly in using a set of 3. One can find many examples with 3 Stars of David, 3 hats, 3 trees, and so on. And, these families continued their coats of arms even after emigrating to Holland. At least one known Sephardic coat of arms for a family by the name of Rosa is a realistically rendered stemmed rose on a field of gold.

The name Heyman has two historic origins. It is a variation of "Herman", like Herman Munster (I have actually run across this name in historical sources). However, the interesting take on this name is that it is also an anglicized corruption of "Heym" or "Haym", itself an Anglicization of "Chaim". Chaim is the Hebrew word for "life", and is a Hebrew name. I have encountered the name "Heym" in early 15th century tax lists alongside names like "Coen", another Hebrew name. So, it is likely that there were Dutch Jews named "Haym" who eventually became known as "Heyman".

I am not saying that either argument, the one for or against, the Roosa family being Spanish Jews lacks merit. However, while finding information that is consistent with the claim of Sephardic origins, I've found nothing refuting the idea. Taking into consideration all of this information when examining Abraham's claim, one can see that the story of the Roosa family's Spanish origins is not inconsistent with facts. It is even consistent with the possibility of their roots being Jewish in origin, as well as Spanish. This does nothing to prove the claim, but it does place it within a context that forces us to give the idea more serious thought.

Our 9th Great Grandparents Edward and Elizabeth Riggs (Williamson / Moris Line)

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Hello All,
With the end of the school year comes hours of extra work for anybody that works in education. That is why the posts have been weekly instead of almost every day. That will remedy itself soon enough when the last bell rings at Central School (home of the Space Education Center) and all the younglings trample each other into the tiles as they compete for first out of the building, first into the freedom of a hot summer afternoon and first into to cool waters of Pleasant Grove's Veteran's Memorial Pool.

Of course there is no break for those of us that must work for a living. The Center's Space Camps begin the evening of the last day of school. I like to complain about the work load but take no heed. I enjoy what I do or I wouldn't do it.

Today started with weather reminiscent of late Fall. It was cold accompanied by a deep and silent fog which hung closely to the mountains around the Fortress. I expect the temperatures to hover around 60 today. Strange weather indeed. A word of warning to family and friends in the East. Our cold fronts, which bring mild rain and modest breezes to us, turn into violent thunderstorms after they rise and fall over the Rockies and bear down on the Great Plains.

Today we are going to spend some time together learning about our 9th Great Grandfather and Grandmother Edward and Elizabeth Riggs. Let's begin with the Relationship Chart for reference.

Relationship Chart

9th Great Grandfather and Grandmother
Edward Riggs and Elizabeth Roosa
to
Edward Riggs and Mary Munn
to
Edward Riggs and Alphia Stoughton
to
Mary Riggs and Daniel Morris
to
Issac Morris and Rebecca Hathaway
to
Benjamin Morris and Mary Spinning
to
Isaac Morris and ?
to
Nancy Morris and Whitty Victor
to
Effie Helen Victor and William Jonathan Williamson
to
Vennie, Ima, Inez, Lille, Josie, Emmett, Walt, Charles and Maurice Williamson
to
Us

Our 9th Great Grandfather Edward was born in England about 1614 and came to this county along with his father and family, landing in Boston, Mass. in 1633. He assisted his father in preparing a new house and in taking care of the sick until April 5 1635, when he married Elizabeth Roosa, whose family also came from England.

In 1637 he was a sergeant in the Pequot war, and distinguished himself by rescuing a body of his companions from an Indian ambush. In latter years he became a settler at Milford, Conn. and had land assigned to him.

In 1655, associated with Edward Wooster, Richard Baldwin, John Browne, Robert Dennison, JohnBurnett and perhaps others, they bought from the Indians the county on the Naugatuck, then known as Paugusset, some ten or twelve miles above Milford. They established a plantation which was afterward called Derby. The Riggs family lived on what was known as "Riggs Hill".

Edward built a strong stockade as a protection against the Indians. In this house Edward secretly hid and protected Whaley and Goff, two members of the English Parliament that had condemned and executed Charles I. Emissaries of Charles II were making a most diligent search for them in 1661.

The province of New Jersey was named as a grant from the Crown in 1664. In 1665, Edward, with some of his associates in the plantation of Derby, visited New Jersey and were so well pleased with the prospects that they founded a new plantation on the Passaic and the site of Newark was decided upon. The next year he spent most of the summer preparing the colony with his wife and family. Our 9th Great Grandmother was the first white woman to spend a summer in Newark. The fundamental agreement which organized the colony was executed on June 24, 1667. His sons Edward and Joseph were designated as "Planters", that is, original proprietors. The other son Samuel remained at Derby.

In 1668, the next year after the colony was fully organized, Edward died. His widow then married Caleb Carwithie (sometime before 1671)


In a letter to William Bradford dated 28 July 1637, John Winthrop wrote of the exploits of Edward Riggs in the Pequot war:

... they gave order to surround the swamp, it being about a mile about; but Lieutenant Davenport, and some twelve more, not hearing that command, fell into the swamp among the Indians. The swamp was so thick with shrub wood, and so boggy with all, that some of them stuck fast, and received many shot. Lieutenant Davenport was dangerously wounded about his armhole and another shot in the head, so as fainting, they were in great danger to have been taken by the Indians, but Sergeant Rigges, and Jeffery and two or three more rescued them, and slew diverse of the Indians with their swords"

Facts on the Pequot War:

In the 17th century the Pequot tribe, rival of the Narragansett, was centered along the Thames River in present-day southeast Connecticut. As the colonists expanded westward, friction began to develop. Points of tension included unfair trading, the sale of alcohol, destruction of Pequot crops by colonial cattle and competition over hunting grounds.

Further poisoning the relationship was the disdain in which the Indians were held by the colonists; many felt no qualms about dispossessing or killing those whom they regarded as ungodly savages.

In July 1636, John Oldham, a trader of questionable honesty, was killed by the Pequot. The incident led Gov. John Endicott to call up the militia. What followed was the first significant clash between English colonists and North American Natives. Allying themselves with the Mohegan and Narragansett, the colonists attacked a Pequot village on the Mystic River (near present-day New London) in May 1637. Encircling their foes under the cover of night, the colonists set the Indian dwellings ablaze, then shot the natives as they fled from their homes. From 400 to 700 Indian men, women and children were killed; many of the survivors were sold into slavery in Bermuda. The Pequot chieftain Sassacus was captured by the Mohawks and executed. His tribe was virtually exterminated. Renowned warrier Uncas, son in law of Sassacus, allied his forces with the English colonists in the war and defeatrf the rival Narragansett in 1643.

The colonists and their allies set an unfortunate precedent in the Pequot War by ignoring the conventions of European warfare to punitively devastate the homes and lives of men, women and children.

A Brief Description of one of the Bloodiest Battles our Great Grandfather fought in.

It is a moonlit pre-dawn in May 1637. English Puritans from Massachusetts Bay Colony and Connecticut Colony, with Mohegan and Narragansett allies, surround a fortified Pequot village at a place called Missituck (Mystic). In the village, the Pequots sleep. Suddenly, a dog barks. The awakened Pequots shout Owanux! Owanux! (Englishmen! Englishmen!) and mount a valiant defense. But within an hour, the village is burned and 400-700 men, women, and children are killed.

Captain John Underhill, one of the English commanders, documents the event in his journal, Newes from America :

Down fell men, women, and children. Those that 'scaped us, fell into the hands of the Indians that were in the rear of us. Not above five of them 'scaped out of our hands. Our Indians came us and greatly admired the manner of Englishmen's fight, but cried "Mach it, mach it!" - that is, "It is naught, it is naught, because it is too furious, and slays too many men." Great and doleful was the bloody sight to the view of young soldiers that never had been in war, to see so many souls lie gasping on the ground, so thick, in some places, that you could hardly pass along.

The massacre at Mystic is over in less than an hour. The battle cuts the heart from the Pequot people and scatters them across what is now southern New England, Long Island, and Upstate New York. Over the next few months, remaining resistors are either tracked down and killed or enslaved. The name "Pequot" is outlawed by the English. The Puritan justification for the action is simply stated by Captain Underhill:

It may be demanded, Why should you be so furious? Should not Christians have more mercy and compassion? Sometimes the Scripture declareth women and children must perish with their parents. Sometimes the case alters, but we will not dispute it now. We had sufficient light from the word of God for our proceedings.

Our Home at 2214 38th Street, Rapid City. Chapter One.

A Daguerreotype taken of Kevin and Jon Tossing a "football" on our front lawn. We couldn't afford
a real football so you see them using one of my old gym shoes instead :)

Sometime during my confinement in the 5th grade, the owners of our home at 210 N. 42nd Street, Rapid City decided to sell the home, and not to us. That meant packing up our few meager possessions into the Conestoga wagon, hitching up the oxen and seeking a new home on the prairies of South Dakota.

Our new home, 2214 38th Street, was located in the Canyon Lake section of Rapid City. It was a modest rambler build right after World War II. The term modest is relative to what you consider extravagant. My use of the term modest should be defined as modest, when modest is taken as extravagant. In other words, modest for South Dakota standards - remembering a sod home with a two hole outhouse in South Dakota was considered living high on the hog.

My first memory of our new digs involved food. We spent the entire day moving into the house and by nightfall we were dead tired and hungry. The kitchen was a mess and Luella refused to cook. That left one other choice for supper - McDonalds! Eating out for our family meant taking our hot dog and beans outside and eating under one of the half dead trees in the backyard. Our eating out meals were served on Safeway's Scotch Brand Super Flimsy and Quite Flushable Paper Plates, the kind that could double as napkins or bathroom tissue if necessary.

"Put those hot dogs down," Charles said to Luella. "We're going to McDonalds!"

The cheer that nearly lifted the roof off that house must have caught the neighbors by surprise. They already thought we were strange. I base that opinion on their reactions to us as we moved in. They stood by their fences and stared. The women kept counting us. You could see them with their index fingers up in the air tapping some invisible key as they counted us. The look of shock and disgust followed the final 8th tap.

"Eight in that little house!" were the words spoken in hushed tones and audible to someone with keen hearing like myself. Of course it all made sense to them when they found out we were Mormons. They seemed confused after that, always wondering where dad kept his other wife.

We were not allowed to accompany Charles and Luella to McDonalds that night. Kim and I had to babysit. Besides, they needed time away from us. I also think neither one had the energy to deal with our excitement. Can you imagine the frustration of taking this gaggle of underprivileged children into a McDonalds. Getting us to take our attention off the real tiled floors and onto the menu would be their first problem. Getting us to choose what we'd like to eat would be the next. How could we be expected to decide between a hamburger or cheese burger? How could we pick a chocolate shake over vanilla? Did we want fries? Of course we wanted fries but large or small? Have I painted the picture correctly? Can you just see all six of us kids standing there frozen with our fingers pointing in the general direction of the menu and mouths open wide, not saying one word due to the maddening array of choices?

Charles and Luella returned with the food. I had one hamburger and a few fries from the communal pile. My special treat was one of McDonald's hot Cherry Pies. I opened the pie and tried to shove the entire thing into my mouth at once knowing that if I didn't I'd have to share it with someone. What I didn't know was that the filling was hot. In those days companies assumed you were smart enough to understand that the name "Hot Cherry Pie" on the packaging meant the pie was to be considered Hot. Flash forward to today and you'll see a warning on the packaging telling you that the filling in the pie is hot.

Needless to say, I burned my mouth and was in misery for several hours. That pretty much sums up my first impressions of life at 2214 38th Street.

Shall I take you on a virtual tour of our home on 38th Street?

On Arrival by Car
Our teetering mail box was the first thing anyone noticed as they drove up to our home. The box once stood tall and proud until Luella backed into it with the car, breaking the metal pole off its base. The actual mailbox itself broke off as it fell. Not to worry, we were expects at fixing things with little money and little skill. We put a stick into the base and put the mailbox's pole over the stick. That kept the box upright in a drunken sort of way. The pole had an odd 80 degree angle. The mailbox itself was reattached to the pole with a coat hanger. It was fun to watch our mailbox in a good wind. The pole spun around and the box bobbled up and down sending our uncollected letters and bills every which way.

"What do you mean our electric bill hasn't been paid. Did you send it to us. We never got it,"
(wink wink).

On Approach to the Front Door
There was an amusement park, Fun House feel to our front steps and porch. The porch had settled after being poured, thus giving you the slight feeling you were on the deck of a ship listing slightly to port. It was fun to see our two grandmothers navigate the porch when they'd come visiting. If they weren't careful, the tilt would take them off balance and straight into the prickly bushes surrounding the front of the house.

Our front door had a half circle window. In the window was a sticker with a question mark. Under the question mark it said, "Ask us the Golden Question". All good Mormons knew the Golden Questions.
"What do you know about the Mormon Church?"
"Would you like to know more?"

Funny, but in all the years I lived in that home I don't ever recall anyone asking me what that sticker meant. Besides, everyone in our neighborhood knew we were Mormons, which is why they kept their distance. No one was ever rude to us, they just couldn't be bothered. Our neighbors on one side were members of the Church of the Open Bible. I always thought that was the strangest name for a church. I wondered if there was a Church of the Closed Bible out there somewhere.

Our neighbors to the other side couldn't have children of their own and had adopted two boys. The lady was jealous of mom. They eventually warmed to us as their two boys became friendly toward Lisa.

Our front door's paint scheme was interesting. Luella went through a phase of antiquing things during the 1970's. Anything in that house that stood still for more than 30 minutes risked getting antiqued (children and pets included). The eight of us learned to keep moving, never laying in front of the TV for more than twenty minutes at a time.

The first step in her antiquing process was painting the object a shade of olive green. Mold is green and mold is found on old things, therefore it stood to Luella's reasoning that falsely antiquing any piece of furniture, wall or door would begin with olive green. The next step was taking black paint and streaking it over the green using patented hand and wrist motions learned from a correspondent's course easily obtained through the mail by sending in a coupon from the back of a comic book. Our front door was antiqued, along with the writing table and a large cabinet across from the piano. There were other things but my memory fails me.

Upon Entering the House
There was a small closet with a brown accordion folding door to your left as you entered our home. Closet are for coats and jackets, right? Wrong. Our closet was a closet of mysteries. It could have been a portal into another dimension of space time for all we knew. We rarely opened it, and when we did, it was usually to look for a missing toddler or the source of some lingering distasteful smell that couldn't be removed with burning incense and /or a good carpet clean. Another reason we rarely opened that closet was because the accordion door liked to skip off its track and fall forward onto the person pulling on the handle.

The mystery closet was set into a Willy Wonka milk chocolate colored wall. I always thought the dark brown wall gave the room a bit of class - a kind of two toned effect, perfect for the family with 8 Oompa Loompas.

Our color TV sat in front of you as you entered the living room. It was a large cabinet TV salvaged from the mud and muck left behind in the park down the street by the June 1972 Rapid City flood. We never found the original owners but we sure enjoyed their TV. Yes, leave it to the Williamson family of Rapid City to find a way to pick up a color TV cheap, free cheap. Remnants of the mud and muck were always visible the whole time we owned that TV if you looked closely at the plastic grill covering the speakers.

It was a miracle the set worked at all. Mind you, the color was never perfect, but having a TV that showed people with sea sick green skin and skies cast in light yellowish hues was as good as sliced bread after having lived most of our life in black and white.

More Later..........

Simply,
Victor