My article on "The Gathering" on Historic Huguenot Street has been published in the March-April issue of Reunions Magazine!
If you've been to New Paltz, NY, or are a descendant of the original families: Elting, DuBois, Hasbrouck, DuBois, Crispell, Bevier, Freer, Deyo, Terwilliger and others, you know that every bit of publicity that we can obtain for the stone house museums, the archives and the collections is important to saving these important treasures of our nation's history. So I'm very thankful that the story of our "family reunion" last August was published.
The issue is now available on the magazine's website:
http://www.reunionsmag.com/
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Our name was Hell!
I haven't spent much time on my maternal family history, but recently I was re-reading a genealogy book on one line of my grandfather's family. The book, written by Alvera Brookman Dunn in 2005, is entitled, "Jacob Hell/Clear and Margaret Davis Clear and their Descendants."
Oh, did I mention that our family name was HELL? Not a great name for children to defend, so I'm glad it was changed a few generations before I was born. According to Mrs. Dunn, the Hells were a German family who arrived in Pennsylvania about 1740 and settled among other German families. But, as descendants moved out from the German community, "they found that their family name, Hell, was not as acceptable in America as it had been in Germany. Gradually, they adopted the name 'Clear', one of the literal meanings of the German 'Hell.' By 1850 no one used the name 'Hell' unless it appeared in a land sale transacted earlier. The former name 'Hell' became 'hush-hush' and within two generations was forgotten..."
Mrs. Dunn was able to verify this information in Preble County, Ohio in the 1980s. But no legal name change from 'Hell' to 'Clear' has been found.
For those who are descended from Lester and Pearl (Carlisle) Smith, this is the family line of Lester's mother, Margaret Clear. (Jacob Hell/Clear and Margaret (Davis) Clear, John H. Clear and Ludicia "Louisa" (Graham) Clear, Margaret Clear and Luther Smith; Lester Lee Smith).
This book is filled with family history information that I'll explore in future entries.
Oh, did I mention that our family name was HELL? Not a great name for children to defend, so I'm glad it was changed a few generations before I was born. According to Mrs. Dunn, the Hells were a German family who arrived in Pennsylvania about 1740 and settled among other German families. But, as descendants moved out from the German community, "they found that their family name, Hell, was not as acceptable in America as it had been in Germany. Gradually, they adopted the name 'Clear', one of the literal meanings of the German 'Hell.' By 1850 no one used the name 'Hell' unless it appeared in a land sale transacted earlier. The former name 'Hell' became 'hush-hush' and within two generations was forgotten..."
Mrs. Dunn was able to verify this information in Preble County, Ohio in the 1980s. But no legal name change from 'Hell' to 'Clear' has been found.
For those who are descended from Lester and Pearl (Carlisle) Smith, this is the family line of Lester's mother, Margaret Clear. (Jacob Hell/Clear and Margaret (Davis) Clear, John H. Clear and Ludicia "Louisa" (Graham) Clear, Margaret Clear and Luther Smith; Lester Lee Smith).
This book is filled with family history information that I'll explore in future entries.
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