Unexspected Bonus

Jul 12, 2009 by Naomi.

A few hours past, I hugged grandchildren and son farewell after a 101 F degree Saturday. Thomas, Avery and Morgan came shortly after sunset Friday night to escape a boring (they said) Saturday in Everett. Susie would be absent at work so came over to Richland. They set up a tent for camping in the back yard, cooler and less crowded than the living room floor. We retired around eleven pm looking forward to a day of just hanging out.

While the kids slept in, Tom and I searched our ancestry, building on his previous experience of looking up my Dad’s origins in the Everett library encyclopedia. I have birth dates of siblings of my mother’s parents and we began to look at US census records for clues as to their whereabouts. We found that and were rewarded with much more. One page indicating state of birth and occupation pointed to other locations that led to some amazing discoveries. Chapmans and Hortons were found in Michigan and Ohio from Connecticut. They were cross checked with names and birth dates of my list and verified to be, indeed, relatives. A number of Haydens still reside in Decatur Michigan.

Celestia Hayden married Leland Elton Swift February 6, 1859, had a daughter whose birth and death I have in a news article photocopied from Civil war times. Ada Leora Swift of the article was born November 12, 1859 (died March 1862). Swift died a prisoner of Yankees, July 13, 1862. Celestia Hayden Swift married Dewitt Clinton Chapman on November 25, 1868. This couple eventually had four children, the youngest of which was my mother’s mother, Lily Albina, June 4, 1874.

Other facts were corroborated when tracing my grandfather Horton and his marriage to Lily. Tom learned when tracing my father, Michael Hodak, which type of records to pursue. Detecting for ancestors was exciting but much more work can be done. We haven’t begun to work on the Horton line, and I do have a photo of my grandfather’s family with a note on the back from Lily identifying James O. Horton, before their marriage.

Avery was serious when he said on Saturday night that he wanted to get an early start Sunday morning. He came in before I was out of bed, showered and began to pack. He didn’t have an alarm clock but it turned out that rain at 6 am woke them all. You know what kind of rain we have — a sprinkle — but enough to splat, splat, splat, on the tent and disturb them. As if stiff bodies reacting to the ground beneath them didn’t add to the awakening! They moved swiftly, toasting bagels, brushing teeth, packing, hugging goodbye.

So they were off by eight oclock. I watched Osgood on CBS Sunday morning and ABC George Stephanopoulos, I got that spelling from Wikipedia so I know it is correct. I had toast, coffee and apricots to energize me for a few hours so off I went to Freethought for discussion about missionary efforts in China and elsewhere. Talk deteriorated into criticism of conventions that chose to meet in expensive downtown hotels. Over that I have no control so I came home to a lunch of hotdogs and word processing. The Hanford train whistles proof that some government folks actually work on the seventh day - not rest.

On a whim this morning I left the windows open and returned to find the house comfortably cool. I’ve had a good week, chipped tooth filled, application sent for passport renewal, and a new story pecking out of my computer. Alone again.

Nice to have family around no matter how short the visit.

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