An Extended Holiday

There are two theories how the Christmas Mountains in Texas got their name. One says that the peaks resembled a line of Christmas trees. The other rests upon a local legend that really should involve cannibalism.

Local folklore has it that an area ranch family decided to spend the Thanksgiving holidays camping in the mountains and got smacked by a freak blizzard that prevented the family from escaping until Christmas.

The property officially shows up as "Christmas Mountains" in the 1918 Corps of Engineers U.S. Army topographic map and also on the 1904 University of Texas Mineral Survey Map completed by Hill and Udden, according to General Land Office officials.

The land commissioner believes "the family story sounds more plausible than the Christmas trees from a distance story." Christmas trees weren't even introduced to Texas until the middle 1800s, and they didn't become common until the 1920s, he said. [Link]

Use This Method Only If You're Stumped

Here's an extreme way to establish the marriage date of your ancestors: chop down their "wedding pair" and count the rings. This is from a story on a Dogwood Festival in Connecticut.

In keeping with the botanical aspect of the festival, visitors will take in views of the spectacular copper beech tree on the green-listed in Connecticut's "Book of Noble Trees" as well as a number of "wedding pair" matching antique trees, a custom dating back to the 1600s and 1700s to mark weddings of our ancestors. [Link]

Bad News For the Balches

Test results appear to prove that the Balch House of Beverly, Mass.—named, as I mentioned before, for one of my ancestors—is not the oldest wood-frame house in America. Tree-ring samples show that it was probably built in 1678—much later than the Fairbanks House of Dedham, Mass.

Among the Balches, whose ancestors first settled in Beverly in the 1620s, there has been a sense of loss and sadness, mixed with stern defiance. "It is still one of the oldest, probably still in the top 10 or 12, even with these later dates," said Stephen P. Hall, a 12th generation descendant of the Balch House's original occupant, John Balch.

Among the Fairbanks, who first arrived in the colony in 1632, there has been a fair bit of gloating.

"We always knew it," said Lynn Fairbank, a 13th generation descendant of the Fairbanks House's first occupant, Jonathan Fayerbanke. "I have to say that every once in a while, a house crops up and says they're the oldest house, but it never pans out. We're the oldest standing wood-frame house." [Link]

The Tree That Owns Itself

I've abstracted tons of deeds, but never one like this. The Athens (Ga.) Weekly Banner of August 12, 1890, reported that one William Jackson had conveyed ownership of an oak tree to itself.

William Jackson was reportedly a professor at the University of Georgia; the nature of his military service and the source of the title colonel is unknown. Jackson cherished childhood memories of the tree and, desiring to protect it, he deeded to the tree ownership of itself and the surrounding land. By various accounts this transaction took place between 1820 and 1832. According to the newspaper article, the deed read:

I, W. H. Jackson, of the county of Clarke, of the one part, and the oak tree… of the county of Clarke, of the other part: Witnesseth, That the said W. H. Jackson for and in consideration of the great affection which he bears said tree, and his great desire to see it protected has conveyed, and by these presents do convey unto the said oak tree entire possession of itself and of all land within eight feet of it on all sides.

[Link, via Neatorama]

[Photo credit: the tree that owns itself by bpmuzik]

Damn Those Figs!

Martin Scorsese grew up in Manhattan, but his grandparents lived on Staten Island. In his 1974 documentary Italianamerican, he interviewed his mother about her parents, Martin and Domenica Cappa.

"I remember one time we had a fig tree. (My father) used to love fig trees, but my mother couldn't stand them. In the winter time you had to cover them very, very well, otherwise they froze. One winter when he did climb up -- he was getting old -- my father fell off the ladder and he got hurt, and my mother was so angry. She says to him, 'I hope those fig trees die, I hope they never bloom again!' she said, and then, of course, my mother became ill. And the next winter she passed away and the trees never bloomed anymore. It was like she took them with her, and that was that." [Link]

A reporter from the Staten Island Advance went to the Cappa home to see if the curse still held. "I've tried three times to plant a fig tree here," the current owner said, "I've given up on that. It won't take."

The Wrong Forum For Genealogy?

A genealogy discussion forum has been added to craigslist. Something tells me the regulars aren't going to be helpful.

One heavily edited example:

Query
Looking for photos of Willie Ross, my great-grandfather. He was hung in Bottneau, ND, March 6, 1903, the last public hanging in North Dakota.

Response #1
One of my uncles was the last man hanged in California. I have been looking for his tree for several years.

Response #2
It was cut down about 1935.

This Old House Is Older Than Yours

Two houses are vying for the title of America's Oldest Wood-Frame Home. The Balch House in Beverly, Mass., is said to have been built by my ancestor John Balch in 1636. The Fairbanks House in Dedham, Mass., was allegedly built for some loser named Jonathan Fairebanke around the same time.

It’s not the Hatfields versus the McCoys. Just a good-natured rivalry between the descendants of two of New England’s earliest settlers.

“This has been a friendly argument for more than 300 years,” [Beverly Historical Society director Stephen] Hall said. “Our records are as good as the ones down in Dedham . . . They don’t know any more definitively than we do.”

Fairbanks House executive director Jan Eakins disagrees. Three years ago, she said, they performed a “dendrochronology” study on the house’s timber that proves the house was actually built in 1641.

Eakins said the Balch House’s caretakers have no proof that the home is the same one John Balch built when he acquired the land in 1636. [Link]

I don't know about this "dendrochronology" stuff (sounds to me like some sort of pagan tree-worship), but I do know that the Balch House (pictured below in a very, very old photograph) looks very, very old to me. On the other hand, the Fairbanks House (pictured here in color) appears to have been hastily erected circa 1957. Case closed.

British Genealogists Get Their Hands Dirty

From 50 connect.co.uk, posted Nov. 26, 2005:

Trace Your Tree & Plant A Tree

Want to buy friends or family a present that will mean something?

The National Archives and the Woodland Trust have got together to create the Family Tree Present: a chance to trace your family's past and plant a tree for the future.

This special offer includes the Easy Family History pocket guide plus a choice of a Tree Dedication or a Sapling Pack.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]