The Cabinet Maker and the Sea Captain

Photo by Brian Zoldak, 2013, used with permission

The Cabinet Maker and the Sea Captain

Sea Captain's Row Gravel St., Mystic, CT

Photo by Brian Zoldak, 2013, used with permisson

I would not have expected to discover two people that I have been researching to have lived in the same house! They were not closely related and did not have the same occupation. I am still blown away by the coincidence. (They are both Denison descendants.)

My friend, Brian Zoldak, took these excellent photos for me on his recent adventure to Mystic. I love how the house is all decked out with red, white and blue. Since I just wrote about the sea captain, Gurdon Gates, I think it appropriate for me to take this opportunity to show your Daniel Edgecomb's gravestone for the next Tombstone Tuesday. I love the overcast sky to represent the not so smooth sailing of sea captains. You must also remember that Daniel made coffins in his basement. It doesn't get gloomier that that!

Brian took several great photos of the houses on this street. Many fit into my family tree. Maybe it is not as fun as gravestones but for those readers who have never been to New England, it is with delight that I plan to show you all of them (eventually). 

Boys and Boats

Mystic Seaport (2004), a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Boys and Boats

One of the first toys I bought for my older grandson was a plastic boat to zoom around in the bathtub or pool. I think that my younger grandson will need one too so I will be going out to buy one soon.

My younger grandson was impressed that my husband owned a canoe. My son-in-law came over to help us put the canoe in an overhanging garage contraption so that my hubs can lower it onto the roof of the car and go fishing. Anthony was so excited that he came and got me to show me the canoe. "Grandpa's gots a boat", he said to me, like I didn't live here and didn't see it everyday. Toddlers can be so funny.

Working with some of these sea captains, mariners and boat builders has made me think about how much men like boats in general. I have more ancestors that liked boats than I realized even in 2004 when I took this photo.

Smell the Salt Air?

Mystic Seaport (2004), a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Smell the Salt Air?

Beyond the Tourist Attraction

The Mystic Seaport has an amazing online presence beyond the information about visiting the seaport itself. 

In the past few years, I have been watching the collections put online grow by leaps and bounds. 

If you have seafaring ancestors in the New England area, the research information is worth a look. (Charles W. Morgan Ship)

The Museum Collection has a finding guide located on this page. 

Learning About Mystic, Connecticut

Mystic, CT Resources, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Books and Video about Mystic

I enjoy researching my Connecticut families most of all perhaps because there are so many online resources and people to help me. When we visit there, hubs likes to buy me books to read. I think it keeps me quiet so he can watch football games in the Fall?

Mystic is such an interesting place and if I lived nearer, I could spend nearly every summer/fall weekend going to a family reunion of one of the many families I am descended from but I can tell you it would be exhausting and expensive. I try to make a plan to go there once a year, but it doesn't always work out. 

When I first starting attending these reunions (about 2004), I learned a lot about my ancestors. Now, I am not sure the people going know as much as they used to to share with me. It makes me wonder. 

I have noticed that family reunions seem to be moving to cooler weather from July and August to September and October. Had anyone else in New England noticed this?

House Plaque

Photo by Brian Zoldak, used with permission, 2013

Sign, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

House at 6 Willow St. in Mystic, CT

No matter how long I do genealogy research, I am always amazed at what can be found out about my parents, grandparents, and great grandparents beyond what I knew in the early 1990s when the Internet began to explode with genealogical information. But, what I am NEVER expecting is to find out is information about my 2nd and 3rd great grandparents and yet, that is exactly what I have been learning on both sides of my family. 

I heard at RootsTech, there was a statement made that you will be forgotten when four generations have passed after your death. Of course, this means that people will not have actually known you but I feel that I can speak for genealogists everywhere that we are unlikely to not leave behind traces of remembrance of ourselves and four generations before us.

Recently, I got a big surprise when my photographer friend, Brain Zoldak, went out with his camera and photographed scenes of where my ancestors walked in Mystic, CT. This plaque is on a house at 6 Willow St. in downtown Mystic (not on Denison Ave. but nearby) where my 3rd great grandparents lived their last years together as husband and wife. 

Levina Fish Denison, whose name is frequently misspelled as Levinia (which oddly was the name of one of her granddaughters) was born in 1790 and died, probably at the home of her son, the Rev. Frederic Denison, in Providence, RI in 1890. That was 123 years ago. She was my third great grandmother. I have copies of not one but two photographs of her.

It was news to me that she lived in this house. For the next two days, I will blog about my adventure with finding out about this house.