Monday, October 22, 2012

clearing my head

Just so I don't go crazy with election year fever...I am looking at my Ancestry dot com program to see where I came from. I do this every few years and I get all excited to see the origins of many of my distant ancestors. And then it becomes work and I drop it until the next burst of curiosity.

I just ran across 'Mercy Tilinghast' a 7th great grandmother on my mother's side of the family. She was born in 1680 in Providence, Rhode Island. She married at the age of 18 and died, in Providence, at the age of 89. Her father, or my 8th great grandfather was named 'Pardon Elisha Tilinghast. He was from Seven Cliffs, Sussex, England. Mercy had at least six children that I can find, including my 6th great grandfather, John Power, born in 1710. I love those names...Mercy and her father, Pardon. And Pardon has his headstone located at Corner of Benefit & Transit Streets,Providence, Rhode Island. 

Now, a mystery...Pardon and his father, also named Pardon died in 1718. the 29th and 19th respectively. So what happened during that winter? Plus, Lydia Taber, the wife of Pardon Senior and my 8th great grandmother died on the 27th of January...same year. I have to Google these dates!

I did search and I was surprised when I saw a Wikipedia article pop up as #1 in the Google search. (Providence January 1718) The article was all about Pardon Senior and his exploits. Great reading! But no clue as to why they all died. Pardon Senior was close to 96 years of age so his death was not unexpected. Now I have to find out why the others died in that month. More mystery!

No comments:

Post a Comment