Saturday, October 24, 2009

Saturday Night Fun

it's Saturday Night - time for more Genealogy Fun!

In honor of Surname Saturday (the new, official genealogy blogging prompt for Saturdays), let's consider this, assuming you accept the challenge to play along (is it Mission Impossible?):

1) What is the most unique, strangest or funniest combination of given name and last name in your ancestry? Not in your database - in your ancestry.

Stanislaus Potoski Dillingham he was my great grandfather, and the Dillingham's came to New England in 1630 from England, and while most of the names were Thomas, James, Edward, John and William, so Stanislaus Potoski is a real departure from common English family names.

2) Tell us about this person in a blog post.

Stanislaus Potoski Dillingham, son of Enos and Clara Dillingham, was born at Dixfield, Maine., August 8, 1835, and died McHenry County, Illinois June 25, 1919.
While he was the right age to be in the Civil War, he did not serve and for a long time I could not figure out why. He had older and younger brothers that did serve, so when I found out he had bad legs and could not stand or march for more than 15 minutes, so I guess he got a medical exemption.
He was a cabinet maker when not farming, from a long line of ship builders in Maine.
He came west in 1855, stopping for a short time at Woodstock before passing on to St. Ansgar, Iowa., where he resided about eight years. He then removed to southern Minnesota, where he took up a homestead and lived for twenty-seven years, a pioneer of that western state, with all the sturdy virtues of the pioneer. In March, 1893 he returned to McHenry county and resided here until death claimed him.
He was united in marriage to Miss Eliza Minerva Hellenbolt at Rochester, Minnesota, Dec. 1, 1870. To this happy union were born two children, both daughters, Anna Dillingham, and Miss Fredalene Dillingham.

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