52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

         Last week I wrote about my 2X great grandparents on my mother’s side, who were born in Ireland: John M. Reilly and his wife Matilda. They both immigrated to the US in the mid 1800’s, most likely separately, and they probably met in the US.   The main two questions I have been trying to answer for years is where did they come from in Ireland, and what was Matilda’s maiden name. I have made some baby steps progress, but I’m no where close to answering these two research questions.   Here are some new things I have learned: 1. John M. Reilly’s middle name was not Merryn, but it was Mervyn . The only sources I had for the middle name were written church record books of baptisms and burials, where he and Matilda were parents. The handwriting is over 160 years old, and the script was not clear at all.              But this past week I noticed that John’s son Robert also had the middle initial of “M” as d...

          I, like so many others, have been on a quest for the place, or places, where my Irish 2nd great grandparents came from in Ireland. They are John Merryn Reilly and his wife Matilda (maiden name unknown).   I revisit this quest from time to time, but have not had any luck so far. Every official document just states they were from Ireland.   Here are the folks in this post:    GG Grandfather: J ohn Merryn Reilly (Riley) abt 1831   - 1872    GG Grandmother: Matilda (maiden name not known) abt 1836 -   1903     their 4 children:          Elizabeth Reilly 1859 - 1941 (my g-grandmother) Matilda Emma Reilly - 1863 - 1870 (died at 9 yrs) Robert M. Reilly   1863 - 1931 (my great grand uncle) George Washington Reilly 1869 - 1870 (died at 1 yr)) S tarting 1870 Mary J. McDowell lived in the Reilly household 1821 - 1903 US 1860 census Cincinnati, Ohio, 13th Ward.  J...

         I have written about my dad’s WWII letters before, but this week’s topic seemed to call to me, and I wanted to share some of the things he wrote about while he was   halfway around the world from his wife of just one year. These one year’s worth of letters turned into a story that forever changed how I would think about my dad, and got to know him and think of him in a way that would not have been possible without them. My Dad, Roscoe Hinch - achieved the rank of Lt. Col. in Army Reserves These letters were written between November 1944 and November 1945, when Dad was sent overseas with the US Army Medical Corps, first to the European Theatre (France, Belgium and Germany, and then to the Pacific Theatre (Philippines and Japan). He wrote well over 100 letters, all multiple pages, to our mom. It took him one year to write them, and it took me about the same amount of time in 2019 - 2020 to scan, transcribe, print and share them with family. ...

          The " Cherry Wine Incident " occurred in May 1933 in Dayton, Tennessee, a small southern town that became famous in 1925 when it was the site of one of the most controversial court cases of the 20th century - The Scopes Monkey Trial, which pitted religion against science in the classroom regarding how evolution would be taught. This fact sets the stage for my story because William Jennings Bryan, a famous attorney and politician of that era was the attorney arguing for the biblical recount of evolution in this court case. For this story, it is important to know that Williams Jennings Bryan was also well known for his stance against   drinking alcohol, and wanted it banned entirely in this country. He died just one week after this trial ended, and in 1930 the William Jennings Bryan University was founded in is honor in the same town -   Dayton TN. My dad, Roscoe Hinch, lived just 17 miles north of Dayton, in Spring City, TN. He gradua...

          My mom has been on my mind quite a bit lately, and I am taking that as my inspiration to write about her this week.  Mom (Dorothy Mae Harley) was born in 1918, in the same bed her mother was born in. She used to repeat that line to me often. Dot, as she was called, was born in Philadelphia, PA. to Clarence Wilbur Harley and Florence Koetzle Harley. Her parents were married in 1913 in Philly. They were 25 and 24 respectively, when they married.   Mom in August 1922. She was 4 years o ld Mom (Dot) was their second child, but she grew up as an only child because her older sister, Florence Elizabeth, born Jan 28, 1915, lived only three days, dying as a result of a kidney issue and eclampsia, as stated on the death certificate. A quick timeline: In 1919, when Mom had just turned one year old, her family moved from Philly to Atlantic City, NJ, where she would then grow up, graduate high school, work as a secretary, meet her future husban...