Notes on Our Genealogy

My great-grandmother Bertha Lee Simons was born in the Wild West. Her parents William and Alice Morris Simons had migrated from Kentucky to Texas, most likely to the Fort Worth area, somewhere around 1881. In those days western legends like Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp could occasionally be found gambling in Hell's Half-Acre, the fun part of town. Bertha Simons Jackson and her second husband Charles Henry Jackson There And Back Again The Simons hadn't come alone, though -- the whole extended family, on both the Morris and Simons sides, had made the same trip. They all settled in Texas, and then later a few of them branched into Oklahoma and Arkansas. Their descendants live there today. But not William and Alice. Life in Texas didn't suit them. A few years after moving there, they said goodbye to their parents, their brothers and their sisters, packed their young girls in a covered wagon, and returned to Kentucky. So it was that Bertha grew up on a farm in Ballard County, K...

About 15 miles southwest of Limerick, midway between the villages of Ballingarry and Croom , sits a little collection of farms known as Ballymacamore . In Irish it would be Baile Mhic Aodha Mór , "Place of Big Aodha's Son". Ordnance Survey of Ireland, revised 1898-1899 The area is farmland today, just as it was almost 200 years ago when my third-great-grandparents Patrick and Ellen Dundon Quaid lived there, surrounded by extended family. Quaids in the Ballymacamore House Book, circa 1852 Land records from the 1850s show Patrick living in Ballymacamore, next door to Timothy Quaid. A couple of doors down was the home of Michael Quaid, and further down the road lived John Quaid. Godparents I don't really know the relationship between these Quaids; it's possible that one of them is the father of the others, or perhaps they have more distant relationships. But in addition to living near one another, they show up as Baptism sponsors (i.e. Godparents) for each others...

From " A New Description of the Shyres of Lothian and  Linlitquo ”, by Timothy Pont, circa 1610.   My fourth-great-grandfather Joseph Greenock lived in Linlithgow, the principal town of the county of West Lothian in Scotland. Linlithgow sits between Edinburgh and Glasgow. In the old Celtic language used in Scotland before Gaelic the name means “Lake in the Damp Hollow”. The name refers to the lake that forms the town’s northern border, which today has the reduplicative name Linlithgow Loch. The town itself was originally referred to as just Lithgow, and is the source of that surname. Linlithgow Coat of Arms An alternative story is based on a false Gaelic etymology that gives it the elements “lake black hound”. This goes back to a legend of a man sentenced to starve on an island in the lake. His black greyhound loyally swam to the island daily to bring his master food, so they chained up the dog, too. This legend informs the burgh’s coat of arms, and explains the nam...

Bacon. In your heart of hearts, you always knew it would come down to bacon. Back in Limerick, back in time, my family was in the pig trade. My great-great grandfather Charles Quaid (1840-1900) was a pig buyer, and so were his sons, and their sons. Not every one of them, it’s true, but it was definitely a pig buying family. Limerick was, for a time, famous for its Limerick Ham . The city boasted several major producers, one of which was J. Matterson and Sons. I’m no expert on the subject, but I think I’m on firm ground when I say that the production of bacon depends on a steady supply of pigs. Somebody raises a pig, then somebody turns it into breakfast. The Quaids weren’t either of those two; they were the middlemen, travelling around the countryside buying up choice pigs at fairs and markets. Pig buying was a culture, a lifestyle, and for some reason it passed from father to son. Yes, always to sons. Charles Quaid (1840-1900) and Mary Nealon Quaid (1840-1917) had ten children. Of the...

The story goes that William Hearn Simons and Alice Dora Morris met at a dance in Lovelaceville, Kentucky , and were married in the spring of 1880. William was 25, Alice was 18, and they were my great-great-grandparents. They were also the first of my ancestors on the Shelton line to be photographed. William Hearn Simons and Alice Morris Simons, circa 1900 What’s Going On? What was happening around 1880 when William and Alice are entering adulthood? Eleven-year-old  John Greenock arrived in Chicago with his mom, joining his father who had already been there a couple of years. Jacob Rebman and Sarah Ann Trier had a baby named Flora in Northbrook, Illinois. The United States was recovering from The Panic of 1873 . Down in Tombstone, there was a gunfight in the empty lot behind the O.K. Corral. Fonso won the 6th running of the Kentucky Derby. Wagon Train to Texas In the 1880 Census, the newlyweds were living with William's uncle William G Hearn in Ballard County . Alice was an orpha...

Cinthelia Ann Hearn and William Louis Simons must have known each other their whole lives. They were both born around 1830 in rural Todd County, Kentucky, and grew up in intertwined families who likely saw each other in church every Sunday. Cinthelia’s grandfather Asher Shelton had officiated the wedding of William’s parents, and the wedding of William’s uncle, too. When William’s father died in 1845 the Hearns and Sheltons may have attended the funeral. In the 1850 Census, taken in June, the two families were living next door to each other. In August of that year, William swore out a Marriage Bond to get a license. The other individual on the bond is the amusingly named Hugh Bonar Wilkins, William’s brother-in-law. I found it interesting that the bond was still for 50 pounds, not dollars. Three days later, on August 15, 1850, Cinthelia and William were married. Cinthelia was eligible for marriage for the straightforward reason that she was over 18. William must have been a little und...