Saturday, May 13, 2017

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - A Tribute to Your Mother

It's Saturday Night, 
time for more Genealogy Fun!!


For this week's mission (should you decide to accept it), I challenge you to:


1)  This is Mother's Day weekend, and I have been thinking about my mother - the family times, the hard times, the wonderful times.  


2)  For SNGF this week, write a tribute to your mother.  It can be any length.  What do you remember about her, and what did you learn from her?

3)  Share your tribute or memories in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this post, or on Facebook or other social media.  Please leave a comment on this post if you post something elsewhere.

Here's mine (from my eulogy at her memorial service):

I celebrate the life of my mother, Betty Virginia Carringer Seaver, today with a sense of thanksgiving for her life, and gratitude for the love and encouragement she gave me. 

The gravestone up at Fort Rosecrans will read 1919 – dash – 2002, but her life was much more than a beginning and an end. Mikel briefly summarized her life in his opening remarks, and the other speakers have remembered her impact on them.

To summarize the "dash" – she was a child of the Roaring 20’s, a Depression-era teen, a War bride, a 50’s and 60’s mom, a 70’s grandmother, and an 80’s and 90’s survivor. Obviously, it is impossible to cover a life of 82 years in just a few minutes.

The roles that my mother played in her life are many and varied – and typical of many women of her generation and throughout our history: Daughter, grand-daughter, niece, student, friend, sorority sister, college graduate (the first in her family), artist, teacher, wife, lover, worker, mother, nurse, encourager, coach, citizen, patriot, aunt, neighbor, mentor, reader, mother-in-law, grandmother, great-grandmother.

As a mother, she provided the family roots needed for her children to grow into responsible adults. She also knew when to give us wings and let us “fly away” from the nest. She emphasized education, and doing well in school. She helped us with our homework, encouraged us to try and succeed in our lives. It was quite a task to manage a home with three active boys and a demanding husband, but she did it extremely well - with grace, good humor, lots of love, and a little pride.

I am a bit of a family historian. In the last ten years, I especially enjoyed taking her grocery shopping, and afterwards sitting on the patio, listening to her life experiences, looking at family pictures and papers. I was thrilled when she found new treasures in her bookcase or in the cedar chest. I cherish this special time that I spent with her.

The “dash” between the dates on the gravestone covers quite a bit, doesn’t it? My memories will always be of a woman and mother so patient, kind, encouraging, giving, helping, fun-loving, courteous, gracious, wise, honest, independent, organized, educated, intelligent, articulate, confident, private, spirited, positive, good. She enjoyed being with her family, and was very proud of them.

One of her legacies is her genes. Looking at the big picture - she contributed her goodness and love to humanity and was a necessary part in the march of the generations - she is part of my and my brothers DNA, and that of our daughters, and their children not yet born.

Another legacy is the memories we have of her, as her family and friends, and the example of a life well lived – one of love, dignity and goodness. This is expressed beautifully in this excerpt from “How Green Was My Valley” by Richard Llewellyn, which I’ve slightly modified:


“I saw behind me those who had gone before,
and before me those who are to come,
I looked back and saw my father and mother,
and their fathers and mothers,
and all our fathers and mothers.
And in front to see my sons, and their daughters,
and the sons and daughters beyond.
And their eyes were my eyes,
As I felt, so they had felt, and would feel,
as then, so now, as tomorrow and forever.

“Then I was not afraid,
for I was in a long line that had no beginning and no end,
and the hand of his father grasped my father’s hand,
and my father’s hand was in mine,
and my children took my hand
and all up and down the line that stretched
from time that was to time that is, and is not yet,
all raised their hands to show the link,
and we found that we were one, born of Woman, Son of Man,
made in the image, fashioned in the Womb
by the Will of God, the Eternal Father.”

Her best qualities live on in her sons and their children – and they are ours to treasure and share through the years to come.

Thank you all for coming today and blessing us with your witness and your caring.

And Thank you, Lord God, for blessing us with this wonderful woman, my mother. May she rest in peace. Amen!


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My brothers also spoke at her service. My youngest brother, Scott, remembered growing up and how Mom was always there for him throughout his life. He was 12 years younger than me, and was an "only child" in his teenage years. He mentioned the love and support as he went through school, played baseball, and started a family. He remembered the mundane things - going to the store, studying, just talking, playing ping-pong on the patio, etc.

My brother Stan, 3 years younger than me, invited the attendees to visualize his effort to describe Mom in words - he looked up words like loving, patience, kindness, goodness, and mother and said that when he saw the words in the dictionary he saw a picture of Mom looking back at him, with a smile and that he was at peace with her life and death.

It was interesting to see how the three of us complemented each other in our words - we covered quite a bit and, I hope, conveyed our love and respect for a wonderful woman who did her best, and succeeded in life.


Mom is up on the green hill with the granite headstones, overlooking the Pacific Ocean on Point Loma, at Fort Rosecrans Veterans Cemetery with my dad, under a big tree alongside the road. We don't visit them often enough, I think.


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Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Surname Saturday -- BULLEN (England to colonial New England)

It's Surname Saturday, and I'm "counting down" my Ancestral Name List each week.  

I am in the 8th great-grandmothers and I'm  up to Ancestor #1783, who is Mary BULLEN (1642-1726) 
[Note: the earlier great-grandmothers and 8th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts].

My ancestral line back through two generations of this BULLEN family line is:


1. Randall J. Seaver (1943-????)

2. Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983)
3. Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002)


6.  Lyle Lawrence Carringer (1891-1976)
7.  Emily Kemp Auble (1899-1977)

12.  Henry Austin Carringer (1853-1946)
13.  Abbie Ardelle "Della" Smith (1862-1944)

26.  Devier James Lamphier Smith (1849-1894)
27.  Abigail A. "Abbey" Vaux (1844-1931)

54.  Samuel Vaux (1816-1880)
55.  Mary Ann Underhill (1815-1883)

110.  Amos Underhill (1772-1865)
111.  Mary "Polly" Metcalf (1780-1855)

222. Burgess Metcalf (1741-1816)
223.  Jerusha --?-- (1750-1817)

444.  Michael Metcalf (1706-1771)
445.  Melatiah Hamant (1704-1751)

890.  Timothy Hamant (1667-1718)
891.  Melatiah Clark (1674-1747)

1782.  Ephraim Clark, born 04 February 1646 in Dedham, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States; died Abt. 1699 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.  He was the son of 3564. Joseph Clarke and 3565. Alice Fenn.  He married 06 March 1669 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.
1783.  Mary Bullen, born 20 July 1642 in Dedham, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States; died 31 December 1726 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.  

Children of Ephraim Clark and Mary Bullen are:
*  Elizabeth Clark (1670-????).
*  Mary Clark (1671-1704), married 1690 Samuel Whiting (1662-1745).
*  Ephraim Clark (1673-????).
*  Melatiah Clark (1674-1747), married 1696 Timothy Hamant (1667-1719).
*  Mehitable Clark (1676-1743), married 1703 Benjamin Allen (1674-1754).
*  Samuel Clark (1679-1769), married 1702 Sarah Pratt (1678-1754).
*  Noah Clark (1680-1704), married 1702 Susanna Hartshorn (1677-????).
*  Ezra Clark (1683-1739), married 1708 Margaret Morse (1683-1745).
*  Jeremiah Clark (1687-1748), married (1) 1711 Patience Dana (1689-1726); (2) 1728 Mehitable Morse.

3566.  Samuel Bullen, born about 1617 in England; died 16 January 1692 in Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.  He married 10 August 1641 in Dedham, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.
3567.  Mary Morse, born before 13 August 1620 in Burgate, Suffolk, England; died 14 February 1692 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.  She was the daughter of 7134. Samuel Morseand 7135. Elizabeth Jasper.

Children of Samuel Bullen and Mary Morse are:
*  Mary Bullen (1642-1726), married 1669 Ephraim Clark (1646-1699).
*  Samuel Bullen (1644-1736), married 1672 Experience Sabin (648-1728).
*  Elizabeth Bullen (1647-1689), married 1668 Benjamin Wheelock (1640-1716).
*  John Bullen (1649-1703), married 1684 Judith Fisher (1663-1753).
*  Joseph Bullen (1651-1704), married 1675 Abigail Sabin (1653-1721).
*  Ephraim Bullen (1653-1694), married 1680 Grace LNU (1662-1689).
*  Meletiah Bullen (1655-1693), married 1680 Josiah Fisher (1654-1736).
*  Elisha Bullen (1657-1735), married 1683 Hannah Metcalf (1664-1719).
*  Eleazer Bullen (1662-1662).
*  Bethia Bullen (1664-????), married 1686 Benjamin Colburn (1659-1714).

Information about the Bullen family was obtained from:

*  William S. Tilden (editor), History of the Town of Medfield, Massachusetts, 1650-1886 (Boston, Mass. : Geo. H. Ellis, 1887).

*  Vital record books of Medfield, Dedham, and other Massachusetts towns.



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The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2017/05/surname-saturday-bullen-england-to.html

Copyright (c) 2017, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.