Mightier Acorns

Journeys through Genealogy and Family History

A parody of a family coat of arms designed with acorns as elements, with the motto "ex gladnis potentioribus" Latin for "from Mighty Acorns"
From Mighty Acorns

Category: New York

Families that lived in the state and left records behind there.

  • Facing sex & religion in history and genealogy As I’ve been writing about the branches of my children’s ancestry this year, I’ve had to consider many points of view that are very different from my own. Most of those differences are due to the religions practiced by those ancestors. The history of America was driven…

  • Some stories hide behind the records Born on 11 March 1870, James Henry Opp grew up in the small town of Dansville in Livingston County, New York. His father, Jacob Edward Opp, was a veteran of the Civil War, and his mother was Mary Elizabeth Palmer, descended from a family of New Jersey shipbuilders. Jacob…

  • Most of her story remains underground The Opp family is my mother’s maternal grandmother’s maternal side—and if that doesn’t emphasize “maternal” enough, I think of them as being on the Opp-osite side of the tree from my Callin family. (Opening with a Dad joke of that magnitude should rebalance things, don’t you think?) I’ve tried…

  • Dr. Carolyn Elizabeth Putnam (1857-1917) Carolyn Elizabeth “Carrie” Putnam was the daughter of George C Putnam (1835-1873) and Elizabeth Ann Force (1836-1918), born in Jan 1857. She grew up in Rochester, Monroe County, New York, until her father moved the family to Brownstown, Wayne County, Michigan, to start a new business around 1870. George died…

  • Finding family in the military Charles Walter Putnam (1859–1922) was one of my wife’s sixteen great-great-grandparents. We talked about his family last year: Some families pass down maternal surnames as first or middle names in their children. In the Putnam family, Charles named his youngest son George Force Putnam (1904–1978), not only giving young George…

  • Stephen Hart and Stephen Hart lived 30 miles and 4 years apart I told you about Martin Hart (1792-1879) and his life story several weeks ago. I told you about his connection to his father, Stephen Hart (1767-1857), and shared some facts about Stephen…but then I started to write today’s post about Stephen and realized I made…

  • The Milton Township Diaspora (part 2) Sarah Montgomery was born in Milton Township, Richland County, Ohio, on 27 December 1824 and married Henry Davidson (1818–1894) in Fulton County, Indiana, on 22 Apr 1841. They took their family—including their adopted niece, Sarah Ferrell—on the Oregon Trail in 1853. In my last post about this family, I…

  • On the precipice of a nine generation breakthrough If you’ve been following along the past few weeks, you know that I’ve been climbing the Hart branch of my family tree. Last week, I showed the documentary evidence connecting Alexander C Hart (1817-1871) to his father, Martin: Now we will look at Martin Hart (1792 –…

  • Another gap in 1850 and another tenuous connection Last time I talked about this family, I told you the life story of Seymour C Hart (1851-1934), my 3rd-great grandfather. Seymour was the youngest of four children born to Alexander C Hart (1817–1871) and Frances Pond (1822–1866).1 We know a bit about the family from records…

  • Seeking the Wavetop for my Hart family A year ago, I wrote about my maternal grandmother’s paternal grandmother (one of My Sixteen), Florence Mabel (Hart) Tuttle (1874-1945): I followed Florence’s ancestry from there through her mother, Harriet Isette (Wells) Hart. Today, I am looking at her paternal ancestry. Seymour C Hart (1851–1934) was the youngest…