In 1824, Dr. Anson Colman (1795-1837) was 29 years old, practicing medicine in the Rochester, New York area during a time when American medicine was only beginning to become more organized and formerly taught. Wanting to expand his knowledge, he traveled east to attend lectures and demonstrations at the Boston Medical School – an impressive… Continue reading
Every once in a while genealogy hands me a discovery that makes me stop and say “What the heck did I just find?” This was definitely one of those times. Dr. John H. Van Evrie (1814-1896) married my 4X cousin Sophia Elizabeth Colman (1821-1845) in 1842. Van Evrie would later become a physician, writer, newspaper… Continue reading
Just yesterday, I wrote about my distant cousin ancestor, Edward Colman and the terrible wound he suffered during the Battle of Shiloh. While revisiting his family records afterward, I discovered something about Edward’s childhood that I had somehow overlooked. Long before Edward survived a gunshot wound to the face, he had already experienced tremendous loss.… Continue reading
Some family stories leap off the page. This is one of them. My first cousin, four times removed, Edward Colman, was born in 1828, the son of Dr. Anson Colman and Catherine (Rochester) Colman. Edward was also the nephew of my 3X great grandmother, Caroline (Colman) Maynard. There is another interesting piece of history tucked… Continue reading
Sometimes the smallest newspaper clipping can reveal a moment of unimaginable heartbreak in an ancestor’s life. In April 1840, my 4X great grandfather, Howard Manley (1791-1852), was living with his family near Rochester, New York when an ordinary day splitting wood lead to a discovery inside a hollow log. What initially must have seemed like… Continue reading
