In the bag are two hand knit projects, both knit alongs with friends at The French Knot in Diamondhead, MS. One is on hold for a couple reasons, the first is it takes lots of brain power, and that makes it difficult when I am so easily distracted by the second reason, which is the other project in the bag. The culprit!
The other knitting related activity in progress is building new sponge bars for the machines. They've been stored for a while, and the bars, being made of foam, deteriorate. I'm trying out the instructions here.
Now that I have talked about my knitting, I want to talk about another project. I'm taking off on an ancestor hunt, and will post a bit about it in the blogs containing "This day..." in the title, if you care to follow along. If not, you may not want to read further. So, here goes!
April 1, 1804, my g4grandfather, Wesley Deer, was born. From a pedigree my grandfather constructed in 1955, I learned that Wesley died of a stomach disorder on May 13, 1881, and that he (Wesley) married Mahala Myers, and they had fourteen children! I can't even imagine that many siblings! Number 12 was Jefferson C., my g3grandfather--this isn't about him, though, so back to Wesley and Mahala.
The 1880 census shows a 76 year old Wesley Deer, wife Mahalia, in Union Township, Johnson county, Indiana, with occupations of farming and keeping house, respectively. Their places of birth are listed as Virginia for him and Kentucky for her, and Virginia as the birthplace of Wesley's parents, while Mahalia's parents birthplaces are Virginia for her father and Maryland for her mother. This is the only place I've seen her name with an "i," so I am guessing the census had that wrong.
Imagine my excitement over the following tree I stumbled upon online. It has a Wesley Deer with the same birth/death dates. If it's my g4grandfather, then it's possible Johannes Hirsch (did you know that hirsch is deer or hart in German?) is my g9grandfather. Here's what is in that tree:
- Johannes Hirsch b. 1640, Beme, Swizeland d. 5 Feb 1673, Tubingen, Wurttemberg, Germany, m. Maria Mayer (1648-1712) They had four children; one was named Andreas Hirsch.
- Andreas Hirsch b. 1693, Tuebingen, Germany, d. 2 Nov 1718, Taebingen, Wurttemberg, Germany, m. Eva Glaser (1695-1751) They had seven children; one was named Johannes Hirsch.
- Johannes Hirsch b. 1710, Taebingen, Wurttemberg, Germany, d. 1781, Virginia, USA, m. Catherine Catron (1721-1748) They had eight children; one named John Deer
- John Deer b. 1760, Virginia, USA, d. 1825, Madison, Virginia, USA, m. Mary Blankenbaker (1754-1828) They had ten children; one named Lewis Deer
- Lewis Deer b. 1779, Madison, Virginia, USA, d. 15 Mar 1852 m. Margaret Crisler (1771-1811) They had eight children; one named Wesley Deer
- Wesley Deer b. 1804, Mercer, Kentucky, USA d. 13 May 1881 m. Mahala Myers (1812-1892) They had nine children; one named Jefferson Cook Deer (1844-Unknown)