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Close Enough!
Here is Michelle Obama addressing an audience at La Salle University today. I note her near-match tartan dress and am officially claiming her as a relative. :-)

Genealogy Reality Check
While scanning a document regarding the death of my great-great-great-grandmother in Scotland my eye fell two lines below to the following entry from 17 December 1852. One must conclude that the characters of Charles Dickens were indeed the lucky ones.

More about great-great-grandfather John Clark
I've recently returned from a trip to Scotland. Since my previous John Clark entry I'd learned that John C's father, also John Clark, married Margaret Gray after 1800 and she presented him in Selkirk with our North American progenitor in 1805 according to my cousin Clark Salisbury or 1806 according to the tombstone carver in Canada (the same folks who once burnt Washington DC).

The elder Clarks were by the first Scottish census in 1841 living in Yair, a few miles from Selkirk, being then 75 and 70 years of age. They did not appear the 1851 census, but since returning home I have found a death entry for Margaret from 12 December 1852. Perhaps the jurisdictions changed; perhaps widows did not rate their own census entries. "Relect" means survivor. Click the image for a more legible view.

The accompany image shows the relevant lines from the local records. (Imagine my hand trembling as I violate the sacred crown copyright, though frankly they owe me for the time I wasted in Edinburgh while they tried to reboot their network on 24 October.) Another document I just retrieved from Scotland's People shows their 1841 residence in Yair. This is all more than a little fun; stay tuned!

Guess what!
After 67 years there appears to be another Clark in the bloodline. The evidence is pretty solid that one Douglas Clark of North Carolina is my half-brother. We're debating which of many less than flattering terms we should apply to our father.

Doug is a retired contract administrator and naval officer.

Another voyage of discovery. Let us hope for a pleasant journey.
Christmas in Yamanashi
In Yamanashi one gets Xmas breakfast complete with a fruit tree. Highly recommended by RAKC. Yum!
Can you say 'Permelia'
Today's news is from the genealogy front. I found a death record for my great-grandmother Belle Perry Clark, recorded in Everett, WA, following her death of cancer Jan. 24, 1903, at only 48 years of age. Perhaps it explains why my grandfather never spoke of her.

An interesting part of the record is the addition of a new great-great-grandmother, Permelia Woodin, Belle's mother, born in Connecticut. That removes a spelling quandary but not much more. Permelia PERRY is listed along with husband Ambrose and daughter Belle Perry in Berlin, WI, in the 1880 census and shown as 58 (my grandfather Perry Alexander Clark was born in Berlin in 1883 to Belle and Frank Alexander Clark). The Woodins or Woodens in CT in 1820 or 1830 censuses have only the name of the head of household. They are numerous enough that the presence of any daughters under 10 is not much of a clue. (The naming of other members of the household was still a couple of decades away.)

So if little Permelia Woodin b. 1822 is in your family tree, give me a shout.
What do I do first?

Robin seems at a loss about what to "attack" first on Christmas day. Thanks to the Internet we get to chat frequently.
Another Relative from Wisconsin, B'gosh!
I've managed to weakly link a new relative on the Clark side of the house. Unfortunately I'm too late to buy the t-shirt.

Read the WA archive article and a comment

Baby Contest
I attended a baby contest Tuesday. The winner by consensus was little Robin Clark of Tokyo. He won in the categories best baby and longest name (too long to post here; see earlier item).
Boo!
Watch out for scary pumpkins on the 'net this October. Uncle Gavin got into the act from Seattle as we introduced him to Robin.
Lavinia McKee 1881-1883?

When I was little my grandmother, who was the oldest girl in her family, told me of her older sisters Rachel and Lavinia, who were born in Scotland.

Today I was waiting for a phone call, and I decided to log into "Scotland's People" the web site of the Scottish national archive.

After a quick search I found

Continues...

Some new Davis/Clark Info
I did a couple of genealogy hours yesterday and found some interesting documentation of known facts. On the Davis side I found a copy of the birth registration of my maternal great-grandfather Thomas McKee/McKay Goodwin. ("You immigrants, there, stand in line for your new name!") On the Clark side I found index records for the 1805 birth of my paternal great-great-grandfather John Clark and his 1833 marriage to Catherine MacDonald, all in Scotland. They moved to Canada in 1837, and (many of) their children moved to Wisconsin USA by the 1870s. See the Clark and Davis pages under Genealogy.

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