Gravestones 9 to 12 - Ridgewood Cemetery in Wellston Ohio

 

My great grandmother Calfernie (nee Braley) Fink. Also known as Granny or Grandma Fern. She's the original owner of my sewing machine and the reason it's named Fern.

 

Fern's parents: Cora (nee Gleason, daughter of Levi and California) and Ripley Braley, my great great grandparents on the Fink-Braley line. 

 

William and Minerva (nee Dupre) Fink, my great great grandparents. 

 

My great aunt Esther Jo, my grandpa Bill's older sister. Not a direct ancestor, but a favorite relative and probably the one that I got my obsession with genealogy from. 

All of these graves are in the Ridgewood Cemetery in Wellston Ohio. 

My Irish Ancestry

I'm taking a break from my Fearless Females posts to celebrate my Irish heritage in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

First up, the Forkner side of the family and the Hollingsworths. They were Quakers.

Robert or Valentine Hollingsworth was born in England in 1547 but died in Ireland between 1599 and 1601. He may have been a settler. According to Wikipedia, he was in an English militia and went to Ireland as a planter for the Ulster plantation. His wife, Joan Parker, was born in Ireland and their son Henry Hollingsworth was born there as well, sometime in the 1580s. Henry died in Ireland, probably in or around 1675. The family lived in Ballyvickcrannel in the Parish of Segoe, County Armagh.

Henry married Katherine Cornish, who was born in 1590/1602 in County Armagh, Ireland. She died there in 1675. She was the daughter of Henry Cornish, the High Sheriff, and his wife. Henry Cornish was born in Ireland probably around 1576, but died in London.

Henry and Katherine had a son, Valentine Hollingsworth Sr. He was born in County Armag in 1632 and married in 1655 to Ann Ree. He married again in 1672 to Ann Calvert. The first marriage took place either in Tanderagee or Lurgan, County Armagh; the second in Drumgor. In Oct of 1682, he immigrated to America on the "Antelope" and died in 1710 or 1711 in Newark, New Castle County, Delaware. He's buried at the Friends Burying Ground, New Ark Monthly Meeting, New Castle Co, Newark DE.

Ann Ree was born about 1628 in Tanderagee, Parish of Ballymore, Armagh County, Ireland and died in 1671 in Ballyvickcrannell, Seagoe, County Armagh, Ireland. She was buried 1671 in Friends Burial Ground, Moyraverty, Co Armagh, Ireland. She was the daughter of Nicholas Ree

Nicholas Ree was born in the late 1570s in Ireland and was Christened 2 Oct 1597 in Tandergee, County Armagh, Ireland. He married and died in 1631 or 1641, possibly killed in an Irish rebellion.

Valentine and Ann had a son, Thomas Hollingsworth, born in 1661 in Ballyvickcrannell, Seagoe, County Armagh, Ireland. He immigrated in 1682 (presumably with his father and stepmother) and married in Pennsylvania in 1692 to Grace Cooke, who's father was born in Ireland. He died in 1727 in New Castle County, PA (now DE) and was buried at the Friends’ Burying Ground, Centre Meeting, Chester Co. PA.

From there, the Hollingsworths went to the Carolinas, Ohio and finally to Indiana where Daisy Hollingsworth married Hadley Clifford.

My ancestor James Savage (Fink side of the family, they married into the Braley line) was born in Ireland in 1673 and died in Maine around 1745. He's the last of the Savages I have in my research so I don't know anymore about him or his family.

Also in the Fink line, my research shows that the Ewings originally came from Ireland as well. William Ewing was born in Londonderry about 1690 and his son James or Charles was born there as well in 1720. He immigrated to America, married in Virginia in 1740/41 and died in 1800/01 in what is now West Virginia. His son would be Swago Bill who was mentioned in my first Fearless Females post which was about his wife. Swago Bill's mother was Margaret Sargeant and she was also born in Ireland.

Fearless Females March 6 - Heirlooms

March 6 — Describe an heirloom you may have inherited from a female ancestor (wedding ring or other jewelry, china, clothing, etc.) If you don’t have any, then write about a specific object you remember from your mother or grandmother, or aunt (a scarf, a hat, cooking utensil, furniture, etc.)

I have several family heirlooms.

I used to have my great grandma Fern’s wedding ring but I lost it. It was a gold band with flowers and leaves on it. My mother said it was cursed. Apparently my great grandfather had bought it at a pawn shop and the owner had told him that the original owner had divorced. My great grandparents also divorced. I wore it for years and in my senior year of high school, took it off during art class while working with clay and left it (and my graduation ring) on the table. Never saw either one again. I still miss my rings. I also have a gold locket with a diamond in it that's engraved that was Grandma Fern's and a gold pocket watch as well. Its also engraved. The locket has flowers, the watch a cross (I think). Oh and I almost forgot the most important thing! My sewing machine was Grandma Fern's as well! I use that more than I use about anything. And its even named Fern after her.

I also have furniture from the Fink side of the family – a dresser and a mirror. They were Aunt Nora’s but I got them when I was about seven. Nora was the daughter of John and Annette Fink, my 3^rd great grandparents, so I guess that makes her my 3^rd great aunt. From what my great aunt Esther Jo said, they may have been brought to Ohio from Pennsylvania when Jacob and Nancy Fink (my 4^th great grandparents) migrated.

I also have a huge woven basket and an abalone shell that belong to my great grandmother Edna’s on the Cookman side (she was a Groff). It took me years to get that basket from my mother. My argument was that I should have it because she was only a Cookman by marriage, not blood. I wonder what she used the basket for...

I don’t know if it’s really an heirloom, but today I’m wearing a top that my grandma Jenny made while she was in the hospital. My mother wore the top and now I wear it. It’s a 70s cream polyester pullover with hand embroidery.