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host · 01-04-2007, 01:47 AM

Pardon me....I'm presenting the following in an attempt to persuade some of you to consider my "conversion" regarding the study of my familoy history, in the last two years. Prior to that time, I had only a mild interest. Consider seeking information about your ancestry, and leaving a grave and a headstone for your descendants to come across at some distant, future date. 

My ancestors left me a legacy that I've only become of aware of in the last few years. For my first 37 years, I lived near the graves of "great great" through gggggggggg-grandfathers who I had no knowledge, of, and now, I do. I was fortunate enough to remember the bits of info about my late mother's family that she passed along to me, and use it to discover that an unknown third cousin had researched most of our family tree on my mother's side.

I never knew that I would have a greater and more settled sense of who I was and where I was going, if I had more knowledge of those who had come before me. Now, because I dicovered and visited these amcestors' graves, just a year ago and paid my respect as I stood in the same spots where they once mourned the losses of their father's and their children, I feel more centered, humbled, part of something. I'm trying to pass this newly acquired awareness to my own son, and he seems receptive.

My ancestors left me with roots, I see no reason to do differently than they did:
<center><img src="http://home.comcast.net/~qvc/johncurt.jpg"> Memorial Stone of my GGGGGGGGGG-grandfather and grandmother, John (1577 - 1639) & Elizabeth

Quote:

<a href="http://www.carsonjohnson.com/Chapter05-booth.htm">
Ensign John Curtis (Born February 26, 1611, Nazeing, Essex, England, died December 2, 1707, Stratford, Connecticut, immigrated in 1635) and Elizabeth Wells , daughter of John Wells and Mary Hollister . John Curtis was the son of another John Curtis (Born September 15, 1577, Nazing, Essex, England, died 1639, Hartford, Connecticut) and Elizabeth Hutchins (ca 1579-June 4, 1658). This John Curtis was the son of William Curtis (died in 1585) and his wife Agnes (also died in 1585). At her death, Elizabeth Hutchins left a mare and “coalt”, house and “lott”, two “cowss”, a hiefer, a bullock, a calf, a Bible, some corn, and some money.</a>

<a href= "http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/b/r/i/Cathy-F-Brinkman/BOOK-0001/0003-0008.html#ENDNOTEREF100">Link to 1736 Last Will and Testament of the son of John Curtis (1611 - 1707) & Elizabeth Wells, my GGGGGGGG-grandfather, Thomas Curtiss (1648 - 1736) </a> 
THe following is a picture of the cemetery where Benjamin Curtiss, son of Thomas Curtiss's son, Nathaniel (1677 - 1763) is buried:

Quote:

http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read...-11/0942619307
Name: Benjamin CURTISS1,2
Sex: Male
Father: Nathaniel CURTISS (14 May 1677 - 4 Mar 1763)
Mother: Sarah HOWE (1675 - 4 Jan 1740)

Individual Facts
Birth 27 Apr 1703 Wallingford, Connecticut
Death 30 Oct 1754 (age 51)

Marriages/Children
1. Miriam COOK
Marriage 12 Dec 1727 (age 24) Wallingford, Connecticut
Children Esther CURTISS (2 Oct 1728 - )
Abel CURTISS (22 Dec 1729 - 1 Nov 1797)
Susannah CURTISS (9 Nov 1732 - 19 Oct 1809)
Lois CURTISS (30 Sep 1733 - 19 Oct 1749)
Benjamin CURTISS (27 Oct 1735 - 6 Jan 1822)
Miriam CURTISS (30 Aug 1737 - )
Sarah CURTISS (29 May 1739 - 7 Apr 1746)
Ruth CURTISS (21 Sep 1741 - 19 Feb 1807)
Aaron CURTISS (8 Nov 1744 - 18 Dec 1763)

Notes (Individual)
Married Dec 12, 1727 Miriam (b. 1701, d. May 29, 1776 age 74) daughter of Samuel and Hope Cook of Wallingford, Conn. Appointed surveyor of highways in 1751. He was made a member of Meriden Church in May, 1731. He hld he position of tithing man in 1744 and 1753.

<img src="http://home.comcast.net/~qvc/bencurtis.jpg" HEIGHT=500 WIDTH=650> Broken dark tombstone in left center of field is my GGGGGG-grandfather's Benjamin (1703 - !754) He was GG-grandson of John, above. His grave was the first that I visited. His was one of the first graves in the cemetery. No one was buried there in the last 150 years because the water table was too high. The burying ground was maintained all those years, allowing me the opportunity to "discover" it and to pay my respects, in 2005. <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~qvc/firstp008.jpg"> My GGGGG-grandfather, Abel (1729 - 1797) , son of Benjamin, and a patriot who fought in the revolutionary war:

Quote:

http://www.quinnipiac.edu/other/ABL/...chapter19.html
369

2 Black Boss was a slave of Abel Curtiss; and like his colored friend preferred the harsh discipline of the camp and the perils of battle even, to that very mild form of slavery which existed in Connecticut. The name here given is a nickname ; but is the only one by which he was ever known, according to the information of those elderly people who remember him.

<img src="http://home.comcast.net/~qvc/firstp021.jpg"> My GGG-grandfather, Orrin, (1800 - 1881) he was Grandson of Abel, and my GGG-grandmother, Sally <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~qvc/secndp003.jpg"> 
Sally's father, Thomas Bristol Jr. (1769 - 1814), My GGGG-grandfather 
<a href="http://home.comcast.net/~qvc/johnhull.jpg">Link to tombstone picture of Sally's GGG-grandfather, my GGGGGGGG-grandfather, Dr. John Hull, (1640 - 1711) "A Beloved Physician"</a>
 <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~qvc/hillside.jpg" HEIGHT=487 WIDTH=650> Grave of Thomas Bristol Jr. is on the left, about three tombstones from the far brownstone gate. His father, my GGGGG-grandfather, Thomas Bristol (1741 - 1808), a patriot who fought in the revolutionary war, and his wife, my GGGGG-grandmother, Eunice Parker, are buried directly across the road, in the second row. <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~qvc/williamo.jpg"> William (1839 - 1908) Orrin and Sally's son, my GG-grandfather, and his second wife, Nellie</center>

Connecticut is the third smallest state in area, just over 5000 square miles. A full inventory of the cemeteries in the state was conducted in the 1930's as a WPA project, and the microfilm of the records is available to order, free, at the Mormon histroy centers located all over the US. You can also search for ancestors at their free site, here: www.familysearch.org. I found the genealogy of my family that led me to the information in this post, here: http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi / You can search for graves and cemetery info here: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gs& My ancestors were buried in graves in cemeteries, they've left a rich heritage for future generations, and when I die, my wish is to follow their examples.