52 Weeks of Ancestors Challenge 2021

 Week 19 - Mother's Day My husband says my family is a matriarchal family and the men are only there as background “window dressing.” I admit that ties are very close among the females in my family.  As is tradition, we will be meeting up at the farm, having a BBQ, and hanging out. In honor of Mother’s day, I am posting some pictures of female family members past and present. My Great Grandmother Anna (Nelson) Canaday, with my mom.     My Great Grandma Mary Valeria (Whetherhult) Carlock        My Grandma Mildred (Carlock) Canaday                                    My Grandma Athena (Spencer) Kirkpatrick My Great Grandmother Anna Retta (Lloyd) Spencer Bruneel (Right)                                              ...

  Week 18 - Crime and Punishment The Maniacal Murder in My Family Tree          My ancestor, William C Canaday (1836-1905), had a brother: Richard Darius Canaday (1840-1907).  Richard had a daughter named Mary Cotton Canaday. Mary married William H Artman, (my ancestor Mary (Polly) Artman’s brother) and they had five children, the oldest being Charles. According to The Evening Republic , a newspaper in Columbus, Indiana, William H Artman was a “Spiritualist.”  The Victorian Era Spiritualism movement in America got its start on April 1, 1848, in Hydesville, New York by the Fox sisters, two teenage girls who claimed they conversed with a man who had been murdered several years previously, in the house they lived in.  Spiritualists use mediums and conduct séances in efforts to contact the dead. (Victorianweb.org)            According to the February 13 th article in The Evening Rep...