Surname Saturday- Mendenhall

Happy Saturday everyone!

I started researching my mother’s name- Mendenhall- about 6 years ago and have discovered that it is more popular than I ever thought!

The name Mendenhall has had several spelling variations: Meldonhall, Mendenhall, Mewdenhall, Mildenhall, Mindenhall, Minden, Milden, Menold, Mildenhale and many others!

The name was first found in Suffolk in Mildenhall, England- a small market town which dates back to 1050 when it was Mildenhale.

The oldest known Mendenhall was Johannes “John” De Mildenhall, born about 1030 in England. Not much is known about him or his family. He did fight for the king of England in the Battle of Hastings on 14 Oct 1066- a battle between Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold II, during the Norman conquest of England. Johannes was granted a manor in England for his services in the battle. Records show that he was also knighted by the king, making him Sir Johannes de Mildenhall. It was also at this time that the family acquired their coat of arms. The original coat of arms is still on record in the Tower of London.

My family line, as far back as I could trace it, starts with Andrew de Mildenhall- which could be Johanne’s 3^rd great grandson. Andrew was born about 1170 in Mildenhall, England. Not much is known about him either. The early Mendenhall’s seemed to own a lot of land and work also for the king many times. My 23^rd great grandfather- Sir John de Mildenhall (b. 1270 in Wiltshire) accompanied the king to “for-eign parts beyond the sea” in 1313. In 1326, letters of protection and attorney were issued to magistrate John de Mildenhall to accompany the king once again. In 1330, what could be presumed as a gift of his loyalty, the king confirmed to John- 58 ½ acres of land in the Royal Wyndesore Forest. John’s son- Thomas- also received letters of protection to accompany Queen Phillippa into France in 1339.  

It wasn’t until 1685 when my 10^th great grandfather- John Mendenhall (1659-1743) came to America with some of his siblings. They arrived 16 Dec 1685 in Pennsylvania aboard the ship called the Unicorn. John married, had 3 sons and settled in Concord, Chester Co., Pennsylvania.

From then, my family line moved from place-to-place:

Concord, Pennsylvania

Berkeley County, West Virginia

Guilford County, North Carolina

Deep River, North Carolina,

Miami County, Ohio

Darke County, Ohio

Dayton, Ohio

The family has left their mark all over the world:

Cemeteries:

Mendenhall Cemetery in Darke Co., Ohio

Mendenhall City Cemetery in Mendenhall, Mississippi

Mendenhall Cemetery in Latah Co., Idaho

Mendenhall Cemetery in Nevada Co., Arkansas

Mendenhall Cemetery (also McFarren Cemetery) in Wells 

Co., Indiana

Mendenhall Cemetery in Wilcox Co., Alabama

Mendenhall Family Cemetery in Franklin Co., Idaho

Mendenhall Farm Cemetery in Ledyard, New York

Mildenhall Cemetery in Mildenhall, Suffolk, England

Mildenhall War Memorial in Mildenhall, Suffolk, England

Places:

            Mendenhall Glacier, Ice Caves, Lake, River, and Valley- (all of these are near Juneau, Alaska)

            Mendenhall, Mississippi

            Mendenhall Plantation in Jamestown, North Carolina

Other:

            Mendenhall Observatory in Stillwater, Oklahoma

            Mendenhall Order- a decision to change the system of weights and measures to the metric system.

           

~Time Travel~

Challenge Question:

If you were forced to go back in time, but were allowed to take 10 modern conveniences with you, what year would you go back to and what would you take?

I am torn because I have two times that I would like to go back to but I don't necessarily favor one over the other. I would like to travel back in time to either 1920's or back to 1685 when my Mendenhall ancestors came to America. I would love to see how they lived, see what their families looked liked, see what their everyday lives were like! :) 

10 modern conveniences I would take: (no particular order)

~Toothbrush

~Toilet paper

~Toilet (no outhouses for me!)

~Computer

~Camera

~Disposable diapers (I have a 2 year old)

~Air conditioning

~Tylenol

~Modern day music

~My pillow 

Friday Funny- Happy July 4th!

Funny Friday! 

I can't help but feel some people think this when I start talking about genealogy! LOL (especially my husband)

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 8

Thomas Mildenhall (1580-1639)- my 13^th great grandfather

Birth:           1580                      Marridge Hill, England

Death:          19 Mar 1639         Marridge Hill, England

          Age: 59

Parents:       John Mildenhall Jr. (1560-1614) &

                              Elizabeth Bates (1562-1602)

Siblings:    

          Robert Minolde      1582-?

Marridge Hill, Wiltshire, England

Marriage:    1603  Ramsbury, Wiltshire, England

Anne (Unknown last name)

b. abt 1580           England

d. 22 Nov 1640     Mildenhall, England

Children: (6)

  Anne           21 Sep 1606- Unknown

     Thomas Jr.   10 Dec 1609- 1673

     Elizabeth     abt 1611- ?

     Stephen       23 Jan 1617- 15 Jan 1679

     Jane              abt 1622- ? 

    Martha        08 Aug 1624- 04 Jul 1682

Thomas was a farmer and owned a two story, two bedroom home. At the time of his death, he was mostly retired and his sons had taken over the responsibility of the farm. An inventory of his estate following his death showed that his goods, crops, and stock were worth 41, 15 s and 6 p.

Marridge Hill has beautiful farmland- would love to visit someday! 

Death- Thomas died in Mar 1639 in Marriage Hill, Wiltshire, England. He was only 59 years old. The cause of his death is unknown. His wife Anne didn’t live a long life either, dying at 60.

Burial- It is unknown where Thomas is buried, but two different sources state that his wife Anne-- one source says that she is buried in the Mildenhall cemetery in Mildenhall, England; another source says that she is buried in Ramsbury, England. 

Wednesday's Portrait- Hester Ann Mendenhall

Happy Wednesday!

Today's Portrait-


Hester Ann Mendenhall
b. 29 Nov 1842
d. 05 Aug 1927

I love this picture! When I first saw this picture, I instantly thought of Madame Bijoux from the 1998 movie Titanic. Madame Bijoux was a drawing that one of the main characters had done-- here is what it looked like: 

Obviously it's not an exact and they don't even look similar, but the way that Hester presents herself- I just love the similarity that I can see! 

How Hester is related to me- 6th cousin, 5x removed

Carrie Jeckering Smith (Me)
My parents
Harold Earl Mendenhall (1916-1989)
Earl Dwight Mendenhall (1894-1972)
Marion R. Mendenhall (1873-1948)
Richard Mendenhall (1852-1924)
Aaron Mendenhall (1828-1894)
Richard Mendenhall (1794-1871)
Joseph Mendenhall (1770-1833)
Richard Mendenhall (1737-1773)
Mordecai Mendenhall (1713-1803)
John Mendenhall Jr. (1688-1765) (my 9th great grandfather)
Aaron Mendenhall (1690-1765) (John's brother)
James Joseph Mendenhall (1718-1782)
Elijah Mendenhall (1749-1781)
Daniel Mendenhall (1775-1817)
Elijah Mendenhall (1797-1875)
Daniel Mendenhall (1819-1873)
Hester Ann Mendenhall

Random Research

Hey everyone, Happy Tuesday!

On April 19, Randy from Genea-Musings posted a challenge- Do Some Random Research. I love research so I'm excited to do this challenge!

Here's the challenge: 

1) Go to the Random Name Generator and click on the red "Generate Name" button at the top of the screen. You can pick any random name that is generated in successive tries if you don't like or don't want to research the first name generated. 

2) Go to Ancestry.com and enter your generated name in the search box on the main search page. If you don't have Ancestry.com, go to http://www.familysearch.org/ and do it there- it's free.

3) From the results, your research target will be the first census result for your generated name. 

4) Using whatever online resources are at your disposal, see what else you can discover about your random person and write about it. It can be a formal report complete with footnotes, or just a "research story" about what you tried, problems you overcame, or success you had. Maybe you want to create a research plan for practice?

5) Post about it on your own blog, as a comment on this post, or in a comment on Facebook, Google+ or Twitter. 

My Results:

1. My Randomly generated name: Blair Kelly

2. I will use Ancestry.com

3. The first census that came up for this name was Blair D. Kelly- 1940 Census- age 64 (b. 1876- in Illinois), white male, living in Ferris, Hancock, Illinois, Occupation- Doctor. He was single, living with James L. Williams (68)- a lodger who was also a blacksmith. 

4. All other results for this person:

a. 1880 Census- (age 4)- living in Dallas, Hancock, Illinois with his parents and siblings. 

Allison Kelly--(44)-- Farmer

Fannie Kelly--(37)--Keeping House

Hallie Kelly (11)

Mary Kelly (9)

George Kelly (6)

Blair Kelly (4)

b. 1900 Census-(age 24)- Living in Dallas, Illinois with father and siblings (mother appears to have passed away). Blair is single. 

Alison G. Kelly (64)--Farmer

Hallie Kelly (31)-- House Keeper

Mary R. Kelly (28)--School Teacher

Blair Kelly (24)--Farm Laborer

Cordelia Ward (30) (Boarder)--School Teacher

~~What is interesting about this census is that the Kelly Family is the 3rd family to be listed. the 1st family listed is a Mendenhall family (a prominent name in my family tree!)

Owen Mendenhall b. Mar 1820 (80) Indiana-- Farmer

Elizabeth Mendenhall b. Aug 1833 (66) Missouri

Carl Mendenhall b. Aug 1868 (31) Illinois

Ernest Mendenhall b. Dec 1870 (29) Illinois

Mabel Mendenhall b. Jul 1873 (26) Illinois 

Martha E. Mendenhall (Daug-in-law) b. Sep 1881 (18) Kansas

Turns out, this Blair Kelly was a neighbor to my 2nd cousin, 7x removed- Owen Mendenhall (1820-1902)!!! Crazy!!!!

c. 1910 Census- Blair Kelly (age 34)- living alone, single- living on Sycamore St. in Rock Creek, Hancock, Illinois. He is a physician, general practice.

d. 1920 Census- Blair Kelly (age 43)- Same as 1910.

e. 1930 Census- Blair Kelley (age 54)- Living alone, single in Rock Creek- Occupation- Doctor- Medical

It appears that Blair never married or had children. I couldn't find him in any other documents or in any member trees. 

Tuesday's Tip- Organization- Part 1

Organization is very important when it comes to researching your family tree. It also helps to keep your sanity when you have a million papers, documents, etc everywhere.

Don't let this be you!

When I first started researching my tree, I wrote everything down in a notebook. Many people just print and keep leaves of paper everywhere. I find this clutters up the workspace and there is no organization with paper flying everywhere. I hate clutter. Many people also keep their leaves inside of a 3-ring binder- I think this works great for keeping a hard copy of your family tree, but not for research purposes. I’ve tried this one and I find that it’s clunky and in the way.

I have found that the best resource if you’re going to write a lot by hand, is to use a spiral bound notebook- but only for notes. If you do this, you will most likely fill up a couple of notebooks.

Another great idea, especially if you’re doing internet family research, is to save a piece of paper (and the environment) by using a word document and saving it under “Research”. You can always delete and re-type, delete and re-type once you’ve put your found information where it needs to go permanently.

(Suggestion- if you’re going to throw out (either via paper or word doc) always save your sources.)

I have found that if I have two or more windows open on my computer, and I’m doing research, the best option is to split the screen- put your research word doc on the right side of the screen and the information you’re transcribing on the left so you don’t have to click and go back, click and go back, etc. J This works out great- quick and efficient!

Everyone is different and it depends on how you organize and what works for you- as long as you are organized, it doesn’t matter what you use, as long as it works! J

I hope this helps with your organizational difficulties! If you have any ideas or suggestions for me, please share!