Mongie at home in Connecticutt.

This is a picture of my grandmother “Mongie” as I remember her. She is sitting in their backyard in Connecticutt. 

Mongie was my grandfather’s second wife but she’s the grandmother on my mother’s side that I remember while growing up. Tonight I was trying to find information about her and not having much success. Finally, I just googled her name, or rather as much of it that I knew. I found a whole web page about her and her family! http://www.marthachurchill.com/family/Crans-bio.htm.

Jeanette (left), Wilhelmina, and Peter Crans.

FROM LEFT: Peter Crans; his sister Jeanette Crans; his sister Wilhelmina Crans Curtis; Wilhelmina's baby, William Curtis; proud grandpa, Willem K. Crans, holding the baby; and proud grandma, Francoise Tjaden Crans.

Back row: Wm. Myrl McKindley, a fruit farmer who had just served in the Navy in WW I. Jeanette's sister, Wilhelmina Curtis, who was the Maid of Honor. Right: Peter Crans, the bride's brother, who served as Best Man. The little girl is Frances Curtis.

Ed and I took Michael and his girlfriend, Brittany, out to dinner at a nice Italian restaurant, Liberatore’s, in Owings Mills. This was for his eighteenth birthday, Tuesday being his real birthday. We made plans to do this on Satuday but I didn’t quite realize that when he said he was on his own that he really meant he was on his own for his birthday.

Michele had to organize and speak at a conference for work out in Deep Creek and Justin and the other kids drove up to spend some time through Tuesday. Michael had to work at home in Hanover, PA, so he couldn’t go with them.

Michael and Brittany came back and hung out with Ed and me until about 9 PM. I finally got Michael to update his Geni profile. While we chatted about genealogy, Brittany mentioned that one of her ancestors was Wyatt Earp! She didn’t quite realize how cool that was so we looked him up on Wikipedia. Then Michael wanted to know about his ancestor who signed the Declaration of Independence, George Read.

Allison (Ellison/Ellyson/Allison/Eliason )Notes

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It’s been reported that James Allison married Mary “Miss Jane” Bradford in = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Cecil County

JAMES ALLISON was born Abt. 1743 in Antrim, Ireland, and died 24 Jul 1820 in Washington County, PA. He married MARY “MISS JANE” BRADFORD Abt. 1769 in probably Cecil County Maryland, daughter of JAMES BRADFORD. She was born Abt. 1748, and died 22 Jan 1833 in Washington County, PA. Her brother was David Bradford, of Whiskey Rebellion fame.

Notes for *JAMES ALLISON:
Taken from the Washington County Genealogy Project Biography of Allison, Thomas
Posted By: Martha Cross Sargent
Date: September 24 2004

The Allison family is of Scotch extraction but before the birth of James Allison, had been driven, by religious persecutions, to the north of Ireland. When James Allison came first to America he located in Cecil County, Md., and it was there that he entered into the business negotiations with Thomas Moffat that resulted in his purchase of 560 acres of land, located in Washington County, Pa. He took possession October 26, 1773. The first patent for this land was issued in the name of James Allison, Moffat having but a squatter’s claim, and a part of this land is now owned by the estate of Jonathan Allison, late of Washington. James Allison found many hardships to contend with and the hostile Indians were so threatening that after many a night passed with rifle in hand, he retired from his property to a more protected position and did not return until the following year. In 1774, accompanied by 20 families, among these being the Bradfords, the McDowells, the Parks, Scotts, and others, whose names, with that of Allison, were linked with the subsequent development of the county, Mr. Allison returned and again settled on his land. A block-house was erected in which all lived together for one year, when one log cabin after another was built around the block-house which was kept as a place of retreat in case of attack. James Allison erected a frame house about 1798, which stood for years afterward. He was one of the foremost men of his day, was associate judge of the courts of Washington County during 1786-87-88, and in 1789, was a member of the Supreme Executive Council, at Philadelphia, and in that position cast his vote for the abolition of slavery, which was accomplished so many years later. For years he was a trustee of Jefferson College and was a very strong supporter of the movement that resulted in its union with Washington College. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church under Dr. John McMilan, in North Strabane Township, which was one of the first Presbyterian societies organized in the county and of this he was a ruling elder. He married Jane Bradford, a sister of David Bradford, who was prominently identified with the “Whiskey Insurrection” in Pennsylvania. They had eight children: William, James, John, George, Thomas, Mary, David and Rachel.
Burial: Washington County, PA (Camp Creek?)

Children of JAMES ALLISON and MARY BRADFORD are:
i. MARY ALLISON.
ii. RACHEL ALLISON, b. 13 Dec 1770, Cecil County MD; m. THOMAS B. CRAIGHEAD.
iii. WILLIAM ALLISON, b. 13 Dec 1770, Cecil County MD; d. 13 Dec 1770.
iv. JAMES ALLISON, b. 04 Oct 1772, Elkton, Cecil Co. MD.
v. GEORGE ALLISON, b. 11 Jan 1774, Washington Co. PA.
vi. WILLIAM ALLISON, b. 19 Mar 1776.
vii. THOMAS ALLISON, b. 15 Apr 1780, Washington Co. PA.
viii. JOHN ALLISON, b. 25 Jun 1781, Washington Co., PA, USA; d. 29 Dec 1852, Industry Twnshp, McDonough Co., IL.
ix. ANDREW ALLISON, b. Abt. 1795, Washington Co. PA; m. ELIZABETH MORRISON.

Brothers John and William emmigrated to McDonough County Illinois in 1834. John is my ggg grandfather. He married Jane Lutton, daughter of Robert and Ann McGiffian/McGiffin Lutton about 1813.

James Allison, Jr.

James Allison, Jr. (October 4, 1772–June 17, 1854) was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

James Allison, Jr. (father of John Allison) was born near Elkton, Maryland. He moved with his parents to Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1774. At seventeen years of age he enrolled in the school of David Johnson of Beaver, Pennsylvania. He saw service in the Indian warfare at Yellow Creek. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1796 and commenced practice in Washington, Pennsylvania. He returned to Beaver in 1803 and continued the practice of law until 1822, when he was elected to Congress. He served as prosecuting attorney of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, from 1803 to 1809.

Allison was elected as a Jackson Republican to the Eighteenth and a Jacksonian to the Nineteenth Congresses and served until his resignation in 1825 before the assembling of the Nineteenth Congress. He resumed the practice of law until 1848, after which he discontinued active pursuits and lived in retirement until his death in Beaver in 1854. Interment in Old Cemetery.

Sources

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• The Political Graveyard

The FGS Conference was great. I learned a lot and met a lot of very nice people. It also helped me move on from a rather casual pursuit of genealogical information to a much more organized one.

Some of the things I want to follow-up on are:

• Search for Amy MacEwan’s birth information in Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts.
  • Commital records are done in county court even if the patient records are sealed. Check for Amy’s commital records in Cook County, Illinois court records.
• Plat the deeds for Ward family in Cecil County. I may have to go to the Maryland Archives to get copies of the deeds and patents which are not available online.
•  Sorting John Wards
  • Organizing Evidence to Overcome Record Shortages
    • Conduct an exhaustive search
    • Correlate the Findings
    • Establish Identities
    • Group identities into generations
    • propose relationships
    • Use the genealogical proof standard to justify your conclusion
• Start a genealogy blog or wiki for my cecil county research and/or all of my genealogy research.
• Make sure my data is genea-logical.
• Follow research standards.
  • Get a copy of the BCG Standards Manual and use it.
  • Perform big-picture research – expand my search area.
  • Follow the paper trail to the original source.
• Photographs
  • Store my photos safely.
    • Get old photos out of the magnetic albums
    • Use encapsulation for sensitive photos, etc.
  • Label the photos.
  • Ask Aunt Sheil for old MacEwan photos to scan.
  • Try to find out more about the tin-type photos I have. Maureen Taylor thought one was from the 1880s and the other from about 1900.
  • Look at the photographer information on the photo and research the photographer to see when they were in business and where their business was located.
  • With genealogical research:
    • narrow down the possibilities – who’s in the picture
    • date and place and setting
    • add up the facts
  • Maureen Taylor’s new book is “Uncovering Your Ancestry through Family Photographs”
• Becoming an Accredited Genealogist
  • report writing is essential
  • use a research log
  • Writing the Report
    • Heading
    • Research objective
    • The written text
    • Summary
    • Recommendations for Future Research
  • Elizabeth Shown Mills ‘ book on becoming a certified genealogist