The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1911-01-18
HUNTING FOR
| ANCESTORS

1--WE been looking up my ances-
tors" said Loretta with sigh of sat.
isfaction. "And I've made an outline
of all the grandparents. see?"
She unfolded a large sheet Of wrap
ping paper on the library table as she
spoke.
"Of course" she said, "it's only a
mere skeleton"
Indeed" said her brother, with
interest. "Its what is known as a
family skeleton, l SUPPOSED"
II was a little troubled at this
place." went on Loretta, pointing, be
cause Tryphena, here, married a
Smith, as you see. The young man at
the library was very nice and brought
me great pile Of Smith genealogies,
but got so dizzy reading them that l
just could not find my ancestor. l
stayed so late that l had to stand up
all the way home on the car. It's per-
fectly appalling to see how many per-
sons of one name came over to Amer
lea in those early days"
They must have had to engage
staterooms six months ahead" said
her brother. But look here. Why
isn't this line of ancestors carried
| out?"
They lived in Newark" said Loret-
ia, proudly, land the British army
burned all the records there"
wasn't that lucky" cried her
brother They probably felt they
were doing a good deed in saving the
descendants trouble. Now we can sit
back and say we are descended from
Alfred the Great, though, of course,
we can't prove it because those tiend-
ish redcoats burned all the records. If
they had only been more thorough
they would have spared you lot of
work."
Another place bothered me-" said
Loretta, ignoring her brothers at
tempts at humOmr. was here, where
l can't find out what became of De-
odatus."
"She probably died"
"Deodatus was man, of course. l
have sense enough to know that he
died, since he was born in 1857. What
want to know is whether he was
born In Newark or in England"
81 shouldn't think that would mat
ter. Isn't it sufficient to know he
was born someWhere?"
Don't be foolish" said Loretta, Sc
verely Il should think you'd take
some interest in your family. It's only
decent"
"Well. of course, if you look at it
that way" said her brother, 81 GER
tainly am interested. It's only that
can't see they did anything very re-
markable. They were just born and
got married and died, one after the
other. Anybody could do as well as
that, it seems to me. Doubtless
good many did better"
But the others didn't belong to
u.s."
mo, thank goodness! We have our
hands full as it is"
II don't care that they did," said
Loretta, with enthusiasm. I'm inter
ested in their very names. See how
odd they were-Israhiah, Mehetable,
Caleb. Ebenezer, Deborah, Thad-
deus"
YES" interrupted her brother, land
here's Moses and Aaron, too. And,
well, l declare! Here's Adam! l didn't
know you'd been able to go back as
for tb,ti NVboro,. E,,>
"The very dates are interesting to
me-" declared Loretta, unheeding
See how beautifully they all fit in"
This one particularly" said her
brother. you see, this fellow, Joab,
was married in 1915 and was born in
1890. Wonderful isn't it,"
II must have mixed those" said
Loretta, hastily. I'll change it, This
Jonathan is the one who fought in the
revolution. Isn't that splendid?'
Great" said her brother after
moments careful examination of the
chart. "He was a prodigy as well as
patriot. l see he was a colonel at
the early age of ten"
What" cried Loretta. "l'll have
to ask the young man at the library
about that. 1t was his fault, | think.
He must have brought me the wrong
book"
"Probably he thought you wouldn't
notice little thing like that" said
her brother. 1T might be, however
that the dates slipped his mind
though a librarian has 50 LITTLE IN do
that he has no business being so care
less about such important matters"
Here's one of our ancestors who
was married four times" Loretta went
on. And l can't find out which one