Wedding Wednesday -- Percival & Kirtley

On this day 190 years ago, my great-great-great grandparents, Dr. John Stearns Percival and Sarah Ann Kirtley were married in Burlington, Kentucky. He was 29, and it was his second marriage. She was 13 and it was her first. 

 "    Know all men by these presents that we John S Percival & E F. Vawter are held and firmly Bound unto the commonwealth of Kentucky in the penal sum of fifty pounds  current money to the payment aforesaid will and truly to be made we Bind ourselves our Heirs etc Jointly severally and firmly By these presents sealed & dated this 4 day of April 1822.

    The Condition of this obligation is such that whereas the above Bound Jno S Percival hath this day made application to the clerk of Boone county court for a license to marry Sarah Ann Kirtley which license will be issued immediately after the execution of this Bond. Now if it shall always hereafter appear that there is no lawful cause to obstruct said marriage then this obligation to be void Else to be & remain in full force & virtue.

                John S Percival
                Edmond F Vawter "

Marriage Bond

 "Kentucky Boone County etc. These are to License and permit any legally authorized minister of the gospel to celebrate the rites of matrimony between John S. Percival and Sarah Ann Kirtley agreeably to the ceremony of the society to which you belong, and for so doing this shall be your authority, the said Percival having entered into bond and in other respects complied with the law. Given under my hand as Clerk of the County Court of said County of Boone this 4th of April 1822. Willis Graves Clerk"

Marriage License

  Marriage Record
"I do certify that John S Percival and Sarah Ann Kirtley was joined in the Bonds of Marriage on the 4th of April 1822 by me Christopher Wilson."
 

Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes

Oops! My Bad! - Or Don't Overlook Your Own Records!

When you think back on where you lived as a child, do you remember everywhere you ever lived? I have vague recollections of my parent's house at 8600 Braille in Detroit in 1954-ish. I'm thinking those memories are probably close to the time they moved from there to 9567 Nathaline in Redford Township in October of 1954. That house I remember, as it is where I grew up from the age of two to twenty, when I rented an apartment of my own.

Therefore, I think I can be forgiven for whining about where my parents lived. My dad's parents lived in several homes in Detroit in the 1920s and 1930s. When grandma died in 1938, however, I do know where they lived and I forgot that I knew that. I knew my dad lived on Montrose, but that was earlier than 1938. In August 1938, they were living at 15766 Ferguson in Detroit area of Southfield and Grand River.  I vaguely remember my dad mentioning Ferguson, but suddenly I remembered the letters I transcribed written to my grandmother from my grandfather and the few she wrote to him when he took the job with the Detroit Water Board in the 1920s. And then there was the correspondence with the funeral home addressed to 15766 Ferguson. Were they living there in 1940? I don't know, but it is a place to start.

Mom's location is still up in the air!

Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes

Who Do You Think You Are? - Rita Wilson

What a change from the previous week's episode with Helen Hunt. I found Rita Wilson's episode heart-breaking.

When I interviewed my parents, my dad told me most of everything he knew. Rita Wilson's father really only told them that he had escaped from a labor camp in Bulgaria.

The shocks she suffered in her discoveries were mind-numbing. Finding out your father had been imprisoned for stealing water bottles? Discovering that your father had been married before and had a son by his first wife. Then learning that both wife and child died and seeing Rita's emotional roller coaster was heart-rending.

I love the episodes when you see the "star" reunited with family members. In her case it was cousins in Greece and her uncle in Bulgaria.

And what a treat for her to see her father's "secret record." I wish all the episodes were that good!

Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes