One of the many reasons that I love doing family history is the mystery. Identifying a women’s maiden name, for example. Or, figuring out why a family moved from one town or state to another. Guessing how life must have been 100 or more years ago.
One of the mysteries that I work on from time to time involves one Birdie WINCHESTER. Who is she? And more, importantly why do I have her stuff?
Let me explain.
A few months after my mom died, my dad handed me an odd assortment of papers he had found while cleaning. There were some letters – the earliest dated 1883 – three photographs, blank World War I-era postcards, recipes, and song lyrics.
But most surprising of all was a will dated 1881.
He thought the information had to do with my mom’s family, but I didn’t recognize any of the names. And, I had been researching my family’s history for well over 20 years.
I’ve come to believe that this material once belonged to Birdie (Birdenia) WINCHESTER, daughter of H.E. (Harlon) WINCHESTER and Margaret STEVENSON. What I don’t know, however, is if Birdie is part of my family.
I have not figured out how or even if the WINCHESTER line is one of mine. If it is not, then why did my mom have this material? Was it something passed on to her from her parents? Or was it something she found when she and my dad moved into their home in 1952?
Birdie WINCESTER’s ancestry is documented in the book John Winchester of New England and Some of His Decendants (1925) by Henry Winchester Cunningham as well as the fantastic Genealogy of the Winchester Family Surname Web site.
The information that I’ve gathered so far about Birdie’s dad, Harlon WINCHESTER, also is available through the Winchester Family Surname Web site. I had written his biographical sketch in May 2007 and posted it to the MI-GENEALOGY mailing list in hopes of connecting with some WINCHESTER researchers. But so far, no luck.
I’ll use these blog entries to share my progress on this mystery – and many of the other ones in my family history.
Part 1 of hopefully many.
[...] the papers – that may have belonged to Birdie WINCHESTER – were three [...]
[...] Last year I wrote a biographical sketch of H.E. (Harlon) WINCHESTER, a Michigan Civil War soldier. He did not die serving the Union; however, I still wanted to honor his service to his country. As far as I know, he is not one of my ancestors, but I have an interest in his family. [...]