Giving Thanks, Part 2...

Some (ten) of our children and grandchildren were celebrating Thanksgiving in Utah, others (four) were in Minnesota, one was in the Carribean ...
But, thankfully, a few were still in Texas, far away from the snow, and happily gave thanks.
                     

We were very thankful that a few of our precious grandchildren (and children) were here to liven up our empty nest.

 These two pretty princesses posed so sweetly while their brothers were getting boxing lessons from their Uncle TaTa, home from Texas Tech.

 Thanksgiving weekend also marked the 2nd birthday of grandson Colby, whose arrival sent his mother to the hospital on Thanksgiving Day. It was the most exciting Thankgiving ever.

look at this little guy, minutes old, and looking around so alertly.

From sweet baby to sweet little boy in just 2 years!

                                                       
Grandpa had a Thanksgiving surprise for me. He spent some time researching my family line and was able to come up with a Pilgrim ancestor on my side. I've been bragging about his Pilgrim ancestors. Now I can brag about one of my very own (official and solidly researched and documented!). This Pilgrim comes through my 3rd great grandmother, Margaret (Peggy) M. Freeman, the wife of Paul Nye.  I am so thankful to know that my 9th great grandfather is William Brewster.

William Brewster, along with my husband's Pilgrim grandparents, came to America on the Mayflower. He was Patriarch and the ruling Elder of the group and kept them together in good times and bad.  He played a major role in planning and organizing the trip to America and the escape from religious persecution which they suffered in England.  He remained ruling Elder until his death in 1644. We have reason to believe that William took in my husband's grandmother, Mary Chilton, after her father and mother both died soon after landing in America.

 P.S. While researching my "Freeman" ancestors, my husband came up with another surprise. Not only are we husband and wife, but cousins!!!!  We are 7th cousins, 1 time removed. Our common ancestors are our great grandparents -- Edmond Freeman (born 1683 in Sandwich, Mass.) and his wife, Keziah Pressbury (born 1687, Mass.)

Gratitude for the lives of our Pilgrim ancestors

James Chilton and his wife Susanna are the 11th great grandparents of our children, through my husband's mother's line.
 James Chilton and his wife Susanna Furner were Separtists or Pilgrims -- a religious group who were dissenters from the Church of England.  With their three daughters, they fled to Holland. In 1620, James Chilton, his wife, and youngest daughter, Mary, set sail for America on the Mayflower, along with William Bradford and 40 members of the Leiden congregation (there were 102 total passengers ).  At about 64 years old, James Chilton was probably the oldest passenger on the ship.  Chilton's other two known surviving children, 21 year old Ingle, and married 33 year old Isabella, remained behind in Leiden.  Isabella came to Plymouth Colony around 1630, with her children and her husband, Roger Chandler.


The signers of the Mayflower Compact

     
When the Mayflower Compact was drawn up on Nov. 11, 1620, James Chilton was one of the signers.
James died on Dec. 8, 1620, while the Mayflower lay anchored in Provincetown Harbor.  He evidently died of disease, as William Bradford reported that he "dyed in the first infection."  There is no record as to whether he was buried at land or sea. His wife also died during the first winter, "in the first infection."
Chilton's daughter Mary (our childrens' 10th great grandmother), who was left an orphan at Plymouth, survived and later married John Winslow, brother of Edward Winslow. According to tradition, Mary Chilton raced John Alden to the front of the launch that was bringing the Mayflower passengers ashore.  She stepped off the boat and was the first woman to set foot on Plymouth Rock.

A memorial to the Pilgrims who passed away while the Mayflower was harbored in Provincetown.

This memorial lies to the western side of the small park below the Pilrgrim Monument tower. It reads:
     1620...In Memory of the five Mayflower passengers who died at sea
     And while the ship lay in Cape Cod Harbour
     William Butten Nov. 16th 1620
     Edward Thomson Dec. 14th 1620
     Jasper Moore Dec. 16th 1620
     Dorothy Bradford Dec. 17th 1620
     James Chilton Dec. 18th 1620
     James Chilton was the only signer of the Mayflower Compact
     Who died at Cape Cod

  

The Bully

Have you ever had an encounter with a  Bully?  When I was a little girl, there was a bully in my neighborhood, but I refused to be his victim.


1953, Warwick, R.I. -- the Bully and his intended victim (me, age 6)

 Doesn't he look like a little old man in a child's body?  I wasn't too happy about him coming over to play on my swing set. My father is in the background keeping an eye on things because he knew Alan LaMake was a Bully. He was abandoned by his parents,( both he and his brother Jackie) and was raised by his grandparents. The other kids would make fun of him and called him "hare-lip", because he was born with a cleft palate and had a scar on his lip. Nobody liked him very much.
In 2nd grade, he took a liking to me. One day at recess, he told me, in a very threatening manner, that if I didn't hold hands with him on the walk home from school, that he'd follow me, throwing rocks on me the whole way. (In the good old days, little kids would walk home from school, usually with others (along a busy highway), with no parents accompanying them-- and it was almost a mile.)
I shouted back at him, "No! I won't hold hands with you!". He trailed me and my little friends all the way home, but not a single rock was thrown. I guess the Bully really liked me, in his own wierd way.

a bouncy Saturday

The very cool, crisp weather was a treat this weekend -- a great time to celebrate Ava and Laila's birthdays.

I don't know who got more excercise, Evan, or the adults (and kids) scampering in all directions to keep him from falling off the edge.

  He thought our concerns for his safety were very funny.

Sweet Ava is four years old now, and along with  bouncing on a trampoline, she loves princesses, and anything girly.

Laila is the sweetest little sister, and didn't mind sharing the birthday limelight with Ava. She just turned two and wasn't quite sure what all the celebration was about.

She had more important things on her mind, like using her new play cell phone.