This is the oldest tombstone of an ancestor that I have been able to find.  It belongs to Col. William Burgess.  The other two belong to two of his children.  He died in 1686 in the County of Ann Arundel in the state of Maryland.  The tombstone is located on the grounds of the All Hallows Church in Ann Arundel County.  He came to the United States around 1650 from either England or Wales and first settled in Virginia but later went to Maryland where he became a very prominent individual owning up to 10,000 acres of land.  He would be one of my 9th great grandfathers and his third wife Ursula Painter would be one of my 9th great grandmothers.  ¶ 8:56 AM 0 comments

 
In the 1865 Norwegian census my g-grandfather Nub Fredrickson was working at the Buttingrud farm as a Tjenesterkarel (male servant?). In the 1875 Norwegian census he was working at a different farm (Lien Sondre) as a day worker and tenant. The picture is of the Buttingrud farm.  ¶ 10:01 AM 0 comments

 
As far as I have found in my research all my different family branches settled and stayed in the Northern United States (New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota) none of them venturing into the Southern part of the United States.  The only exception is the Burgess family who lived in Maryland.  William Burgess after coming to America from England/Wales prior to 1650 settled in Virginia first and then moved to Maryland where my part of the Burgess family remained until 1795/1800 when they moved to Fayette County, Pennsylvania.  The map is of Maryland and most of its counties.  Two counties mentioned frequently with the Burgess family are Prince George where my 6th great grandfather Basil Burgess was born and Queen Annes where my 5th g-grandmother Mary Burgess Carson was born.  ¶ 11:12 AM 0 comments

 
The picture shows you Washington County, Pennsylvania.  In the black square is a part of Fallowfield Township.  This is where both Thomas and Mary Carson and Hercules and Sarah Young lived in the last half of the 1700's.  Both are 6th Great Grandparents on my mother's side.  Thomas was born in Ireland and Hercules in Scotland.  It wasn't until two generations later that their grandchildren, Evan Young and Elizabeth Carson, while still living in Fallowfield married.  Both Evan and Elizabeth died in Hamilton County, Indiana.   ¶ 11:37 AM 0 comments

 
The picture shows you the Finneplassen farm found in Ringerike, Buskerud, Norway. This is the farm that my gg-grandmother, Ragnhild Haselhaugen grew up on. Her parents were Gudbrand Larson Finneplassen and Gudbjorg Fredricksdatter Pukerudeie. A niece of hers would write down the stories that her mother (Ragnhild's sister) would tell her as a child and then as an adult you put them in a book. One of the stories involved going to a wedding at or near the Finneplassen farm. She mentions the "six miles of stately forests" and "skirting one lake called the "Black Lake" for the waters were always dark."  ¶ 10:10 AM 0 comments

 
The picture is of the Redalen farm in Krødsherad, Buskerud, Norway. This is the farm that my g-grandfather Erik Gunderson Gunhus was born on in 1828. As long as he was living on the farm his name remained Erik Gunderson (Gunderson meaning son of Gunder, Erik's father) Redalen but when he moved to the Gunhus farm in the early 1840's his named became Erik Gunderson Gunhus. The picture was taken in 1920.  ¶ 10:04 AM 0 comments

 
My ggg-grandparents John and Mary Young lived a couple of miles outside of Tipton (Tipton County, Indiana) from approximately 1850 through 1859. Between 1853 and 1856 Mary's brother Evan and his family lived next to John and Mary on the west side of their farm. On the east side across the road lived Newton Springer and his family. They moved there in 1854. Newton's wife Sarah was Mary's aunt (Mary's mother's sister). They continued living on their farm long after both of the other (Young) families had moved on to Iowa. Their son Isaac Newton Springer was approximately seventeen when they moved to Tipton from Pennsylvania. The picture is of him.  ¶ 12:56 PM 0 comments

 
In the last entry I mentioned that my ggg-grandmother Mary Young had the unusual middle names of Burgess Carson. In referring to or signing her name she would use Mary B.C. Young. I thought that I would mention more about the Burgess and Carson names. The picture shows an ancestry chart for Mary Young through her g-grandparents. At the top of the chart is Thomas Carson (from Ulster County, Ireland) and his wife Mary Smith. They both were born in the early 1740's. They settled in Fallowfield Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania. He died in 1816 and she must have preceded him since there is no mention of her in his will. Basil Burgess was born in Maryland in 1741 and died in 1786 also in Maryland. His wife Anne Smith died in 1803 in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. After Basil died the family evidently traveled to Fayette County which is next to Washington County.  ¶ 10:28 AM 3 comments