February is Black History Month. Here are some paintings listed as "mulatos" that I found on the net. Spanish African or Indian African heritage. In my ancestry I have found that two of my ancestors were listed as mulatos. My fifth great grandmother Clara Maria Flores was a mulata servant in the home of Don Juan Jose de Arizpe. In 1799 She married Simon Urdiales in Monterrey Mexico. The record does not list her parents, just the home of where she was a servant.
My sixth great grandfather Juan Elijio Tello was a mulato born in 1746 in Zacatecas, Mexico, to Salvador Tello and Maria Isabel Barrona. Salvador Tello my 7th great grandfather was Native American and Maria Isadora would have been mostly African American if not all.

"I heard the bells on Christmas Day" has always been one of my favorite Christmas hymns .A most beautiful song of hope in a world of uncertain times! Written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow a fourth cousin of my great great grandfather Converse L. McCurdy. They seemed to have a lot in common besides their blood relation. Both were born in Maine, Henry in 1807 Converse in 1809. Both were descendant's of Mayflower passengers John Alden, Prescilla Mullins and Henry Samson. Both moved to Cambridge in the year 1854, no kidding. Both with son's named Charles who are both wounded in battles in the civil war. Both Charles' came home around the same time to heal from their wounds. Converse loses his wife in 1848, Henry Loses his in 1861. Both aware of the bells at Christmas time. Converse having them rung at his church and Henry writing his famous hymn. Did they know each other? I don't know but I'd like to think so. Henry stayed in Cambridge but Converse moved around the Boston area every two years or so as his preaching assignments changed. Another thing they had in common, both of them knew that "Peace on Earth" comes from a hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is a picture of my great grandmother Petra's sister
Maria de Jesus Elizondo at 18 years of age. That would have been in
1914 the same year my grandmother Martinez was born, her niece. I can see the likeness to my great grandma Petra her sister and think that their mother Candelaria Tellez must have looked a little like this picture also. Candelaria Tellez was Born in Monterrey
Mexico in Jan. of 1868 so she would have been thirty years old when my great grandmother Petra was born. We know very little about her. We know from Grandma Petra that she had died when her children were young. While researching the records of Pesqueria, we located all of her children except for Maria de Jesus. I thought that she was oldest but when we couldn't find her birth record before Grandma Petra's I started looking for
the record after the other children were born. We then came across the birth record of a Candelaria Tellez and after translating
the record we realized that she had given birth to a daughter that was likewise named Candelaria Tellez. In the record it says that she the Mother died in the moment of delivery. This date of birth of her daughter and the Death of our Mother was August 19, 1903 she would have only been 35 years old. We did find that the daughter Candelaria also passed away about a month later. I recently located the birth record of Maria de Jesus, she was born in 1896 also in Pesqueria. While reading the words of the record and with my mother translating the words to English, "that she died in the moment of delivery." In the moment of translating and knowing how she died, there has been a special bond with her my great great grandmother, Candelaria Tellez

Mis Raices

I've started a new page on EarlyMaineMcCurdys.com, "Mis Raices." This page is dedicated to my mother and her side of my family. Here is part of my Grandma's story as written by my aunt Ruth Saiz.
Maria's Story
This story begins in Pesqueria Chica, a small town nestled in the shadows of "El Cerro de la Silla"(Saddle Mountain) Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.
Maria, the heroine in my story was born in this little town in the spring of 1914. Two years after the birth of this little girl another little sister cane to join her. These little girls grew with no special happenings surrounding them until the rumors of unrest came to happen in the towns and villages. It was the spring of 1918. Mexico was experiencing rebel unrest. Families were being torn apart. The Mexican revolution was at it's peak and the rebel troops were taking all able bodied men and women to fight.
Petra, a brave young woman bought train tickets for her two little girls ages 4 and 2 in a little town named San Nicolas, and went north to the American border where with a few pesos in her hand found some "coyotes" to take her and her children across.
She was fleeing the Mexican rebel army for a better life in the United States of America. She had just lost her young husband, Ignacio Garza in the war, and her older sister had already been recruited to fight with the rebel army. The rebels were taking every able bodied man and woman to join their forces. This young woman with the few pesos in her hand was willing to risk this crossing to an unknown future rather than being taken to fight with the army and separated from her two little girls.
She paid the men at the banks of the Rio Grande to take her and her children across. The plan was to take the children first in large tubs and then come back for her and two other people. She sent her two little girls ahead, but this young mother in her desperation to get across realized that she had put all her trust in these two men to safely get her children to the other side.
Fear came over her with the realization that these men might not come back for her and became so distraught that she contemplated crossing herself even though she didn't know how to swim. With a prayer in her heart and just as she was going to attempt to swim she saw the men coming back for her. She was safely taken across to be reunited with her children.
Together the young family started their hard and arduous journey into an unknown country, a strange language, and a different way of life. With no money, and only a few things to eat arrived in the town of Weslaco, Texas. It seemed like they had walked and walked for many miles before they came to some fields where four men were sitting by a fire and getting ready to eat a meal. One of the men asked her where they were going and she told him that she wasn't sure but she had faith that she would able to find food and shelter and a job so that she could provide for her little girls.
One of the men invited them to sit with them by the fire and share their meal and he also told the young mother that he had a boarding house and the he could take them there where he offered her a job as the cook.
The job was easy since Petra had learned to cook at a very early age and while she worked hard preparing the meals for the laborers, her little girls would sit in a corner of the kitchen where she would keep an eye on them. The four year old took care of her little sister. This four year old was my mother Maria.

An obituary type article from the Methodist Church for "Converse L. McCurdy"

I found an excellent, Obituary type article, about Converse L. McCurdy on Google this week. The idea came to me to Google his wife's name, Eveline Bradford, and up came this article written by Methodist New England Conference. Converse's name came up as Converse L. M'Curdy. A slightly different spelling.

Converse L. M'Curdy was born in Hallowell, Me, May 17 1809. His opportunities for education were limited to the public schools of his native town, and to a private school he attended for a short time. He was converted, when about twenty-one years old, at Great Falls N.H. He at once felt called to preach, and began to make such preparation as he was able, and to exercise his gifts by holding meetings in the vicinity. In 1834 he joined the New Hampshire Conference, and was stationed in the following places: Newington, Kingston, Manchestar, Winchester, Chesterfield, Rindge, Richmond, Concord, Lebenon, East Havehill, Bristol- Fifteen years in all. In 1849 he was transferred to the New England Conference, and stationed successively at Three Rivers, Oxford, Natick and Needham, East Cambridge, Charlestown(High st.), Boston(Church street), Gloucestor(Elm st.), Lynn(Boston St.), Marblehead, Barre, Leominister, Athol Depot, Wakefield and South Lawrence.
On the 15 of August 1829, Brother M'Curdy was married, at Great Falls, to Eliza Reynolds, who died October 12, 1848. Three of six children by this marriage still live, the others having died in infancy. His second wife Eveline Bradford, to whom he was married April 10, 1849, at Boston. Of three children by this marriage only one survives.
During thirty-five years of his ministry he enjoyed almost uninterrupted health; but at South Lawrence, May, 1875, his health so failed that at the next Conference, being turned superannuated, he removed to Wakefield, where he died of consumption November 22, 1876, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, and after forty-two years in Conference relation. His last very excellent wife died, after an illness of many years, during the session of the last Conference, a bereavement which doubtless hastened his own decline and death, although at this time , as he often declared, he had most marvelous experience of peace and joy-revelations of divine love far exceeding his power of description.
Brother M'Curdys piety was deep, steadfast, and joyful. He was almost uniformly a cheerful and happy man. As a minister he was intelligent, wise, and earnest. His convictions of duty were clear, frankly stated, and persistently held. He watched over the flock with the tender shepherd's care, having lively sympathy with the sick, sorrowful, and unfortunate. His moral character was stainless, his domestic life pure, affectionate, and happy. Having a voice of remarkable compass and power, he delighted to use it in singing and prayer, in both of which he was specially gifted, and in the loud and joyful proclamation of the glad tidings of the Kingdom. His preaching was plain, practical, and evangelical. He aimed specially at the heart of the hearer, and rarely preached without deep emotion. His ministry was every-where blessed with the happiest results to the Churches. Extensive revivals attended his labors, often bringing persons of great influence in a community to the fellowship and support of the Church. He was deeply interested in the cause of temperance and other reforms, and never was he more indignant in feeling or speech than when contemplating the utter baseness of rumsellers and oppressors. He ardently loved the Church, and the members of the Conference were especially dear to his heart. It can be truly said that a useful and beloved brother has fallen from the ranks; that another, who lived and died well, rests from his labors. "Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing."

Early Maine McCurdy Cousins

I want to thank all the cousins that I have found through the internet. It's been awhile since I've contacted some of them. I hope they will drop me an email if they see this post or leave a comment. Most of the cousins I met through the website genealogy.com. I first met Marian Walker who has sent some material to place on our website. She descends from James and Abigail Ford McCurdy like myself. Then I met Judy Machnik also at genealogy.com. She is a descendant of John and Anna Hilton McCurdy like myself. Then there is Cindy Oder who descends from Thomas McCurdy who married his cousin Elizabeth Hilton. There is Dawn Baker who has also sent me quite a bit of info. She descends from Elizabeth McCurdy daughter of Thomas McCurdy and Miss Kilpatrick. I've written Jean Masters a couple of times I beleive she descends from John and Anna Hilton McCurdy. Mike Daigle surfed in a few months back. He like Dawn descends from Elizabeth McCurdy who married John Calderwood. Then there's Ruth York who also comes from the Calderwood McCurdy line. And of course there's Kris Williams who has helped me tremendously she is the one who helped me find the yahoo website info and helped me get started. Thanks a bunch Kris. The Last cousin I met was just about a month ago and that would be Philip McCurdy also from James and Abigail McCurdy. You can read about it in a previous post. Let's see that would make nine cousins. Not many but hey, we've just begun.

Another Maine McCurdy Cousin!

Last month as I was doing research on exactly what Dna testing could do to help genealogical work. I got quite excited about the prospects of tying our McCurdy Maine line in with other known McCurdy lines of the 5 borthers who left Scotland for Ireland in 1666. I decided that I could look up McCurdys through google and email a couple or so a week and tell them about the Dna testing and about family research in general. Well, to my great surprise one of the first persons I emailed happened to be from our Maine McCurdy line. His name is Philip Emerald McCurdy. His great-great grandfather Emerald McCurdy and my great-great grandfather Converse Lilly McCurdy are brothers. At times I think I need to expand my website to include other McCurdy lines in hopes to find more cousins from our Maine line, but I'm not certain just how to go about doing this yet. Finding other cousins from our line seems to be slow in coming but very rewarding. The Picture is of Emerald McCurdy.

New look for Early Maine McCurdys

I was looking at the home page of earlymainemccurdys.com and was most dissatisfied. So I called my nephew Richard in Arizona and asked for some advise. Hopefully you like the new look. I'm not totally satisfied and will be making a few more changes as time permits. I'm trying to make it look more professional even though this amateur is doing the design. Thanks Richio for the healthy criticism.

How many descendants of Early Maine McCurdys can we find?

I would imagine there are easily over a thousand living descendants of Charles Wesley McCurdy son of Converse L. McCurdy. I would like to see how many Early Maine McCurdy descendants, and not just Converse's line, we can get to sign our guestbook. I'm going to send an invitation to some that I know, and ask them to pass the word on. I have left a spot for your place of residence, so let's see how many McCurdy descendants we can find and where they are living.

earlymainemccurdys.com

Hi everyone. I started a blog on earlymainemccurdys.com but the blog tools were pretty lame. I had already started a blog and liked it's setup a lot better. So I'm using my old blog for earlymainemccurdys blog. There's a little bit about my research, and about me. If you would like to post on this blog, just let me know and you can sign up. I'm out of town for a couple of weeks and I'm having trouble accessing the main website. The only thing I can access right now is this blog.
Michael McCurdy

My McCurdy Ancestral Line

Michael Kevin McCurdy born Salt Lake City, Utah 1962

Charles Bybee McCurdy born Pocatello, Idaho 1925

Charles Berg McCurdy born Iona, Idaho 1894

Charles Wesley McCurdy born Somersworth, New Hampshire 1835

Converse Lilly McCurdy born Hallowell, Maine 1809

James McCurdy born Bristol, Maine 1767

John McCurdy born Bristol, Maine 1736

(Probably)Thomas McCurdy born Northern Ireland 1706

(unproven) James McCurdy born Northern Ireland 1676

(unproven) Daniel McCurdy (the refugee) born Isle of Bute 1648

One day while searching Google

In my research I use google quite often. I type in "McCurdy" with other keywords, since its not a common name. On General Conference Weekend of this past October I had listened to quite a few talks. A good number of the talks were about the early leaders of our church. This would be during the same time period that Converse Lilly McCurdy was a minister for the Methodist Church in the New England area 1830's and 40's. I had been doing most of my research on Converse at this time and my thoughts were all about him and I pondered on what kind of a person he must of been. I knew in my heart, and from what I had heard and read, that he must of been a very good person, a far better person than I . In a letter from Hannah Kinsley to my great Grandfather Charles W. McCurdy her brother, she wrote "no finer person ever lived than our Father." After conference I started to do some research on the net. I decided to do some of my normal searches on Google, but this time the results were anything but normal. In my "search results" came up a book called "Sunday School and Band of Hope Speaker" By Rev. C L McCurdy published in Boston in 1870. A feeling of excitement rushed through me and I literally screamed as I began to read about the book. The site was eBay, but everything was in a foreign language so it was hard to know exactly what was going on. To make a long story short, the book had already been sold, but it is now in my possession. This book is truly of great worth to me. My Great Grandfather Charles W. McCurdy had moved out west and we knew little about Converse. As far as I know nothing like a bible or any heirloom was ever handed down to us. This book has given me insight as to the kind of person my Great Great Grandfather was . Almost all the writings in the book are for the "Band of Hope" and are about the ill effects of Alcohol, but thankfully and maybe not just by chance, he did put in a few of his poems that give us some clues about our Grandfather Converse Lilly McCurdy. Malachi 4:6

I include two of those poems

The Homes Of The Departed

If you bright stars which gem the night,

Be each a blissful dwelling sphere,

Where kindred spirits re-unite,

Whom death has torn asunder here,

How sweet it were at once to die,

And leave this blighted orb afar,

Mix soul with soul to cleave the sky,

And soar away from star to star.

But, oh! how dark, how drear, how lone

Would seem the brightest world of bliss,

If, wandering through each radiant zone,

We failed to find the loved of this!

If there no more the ties should twine,

Which death's cold hand alone can sever,

Ah! then these stars in mockery shine,

More hateful as they shine for ever!

It cannot be --- each hope and fear

That lights the eye and clouds the brow,

Proclaims there is a happier sphere

Than this bleak world that holds us now;

There is a voice which sorrow hears,

When heaviest weighs life's galling chain;

'Tis Heaven that Whispers, "Dry thy tears;

The pure in heart shall meet again!"

Recitation

'Twas summers eve. The blue arched heavens above were beaming with soft smiles, and all was quietude and peace. The bright sun had just withdrawn his golden beams, tinging the West with flowing beauty. And busy man, and all earth, with its perplexities, slept. Sweet melody was floating on the evening breeze; the song of the nightingale, the distant waterfall, and the low murmuring of the forest trees, mingled their notes with inexpressible sweetness. How the heart thrills at such an hour , with love to its Creator! There is some invisible power beyond the strength of language to express, that stirs every spring within the soul. It seems that earth and sky blend all their loveliness, to fill the heart almost with heaven's hallowed bliss. "Such was the night so lovely, still, serene, when to a little mound of earth, seen by none but God's all seeing eye," I bent my steps. Dearest spot on earth! 'neath this cold clod slumbers all that bound me to this vale of sadness. Yes, she is gone! Those eyes that once beamed so brightly with affection's glance, are now closed! Those hands that oft have warmly pressed a friend's, are now clasped in one long, cold embrace, and the music of her lips is silent; she sleeps her long last sleep. Oh! what has death wrought? A mother, too!--- dearest name on earth. But the loveliest in this world of sadness are destined to decay the first. E'en now my brow burns with my mother's kiss, and I can hear "her voice scarce uttered, soft as zephyr's sighs," ascending up to Heaven, in ardent, earnest prayer for me. Oh! are not these bright visions? But in vanishing they leave a sting. But can I wish her to return from those plains of paradise, to exchange an angel's harp for aught that's here below? Ah, no! Farewell, thou blest and beautiful; sing on those heavenly anthems. I know 'tis well with thee. Farewell!

Converse Lilly McCurdy son of James and Abigail

Lately I've been doing quite a bit of research on my great great Grandfather Converse Lilly McCurdy. I was once ask if I had proof that Converse of my line was the same Converse born to James McCurdy and Abigail Ford. I thought this was obvious but decided it would be good to prove it for my own records.
The first evidence I found to support our Converse, is from the 1880 United States Census, the state of Ma. It list Octavia L. McCurdy as being the aunt in law to Edward B. Kinsley who was Married to Hannah N. McCurdy the daughter of our Converse. The records of Hallowell list Octavia as a daughter of James and Abigail. So here we have a Converse with a sister named Octavia. What are the chances of brother and sister with these names not being the same as the one's from Hallowell. The only thing that didn't match was Octavia birth year, but if you've done research before it's not out of the ordinary that this date could be wrong and she still be the right person. This did bother me a little so I kept searching for more proof.
I think I now have pretty good proof. I've recently found on newenglandancestors.org in the Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841 to 1910 Converse's death record. According to this record he was born in Hallowell. He died on 22 Nov. 1876 in Wakefield Ma. His Father is listed as James born in Bristol and his Mother as Abigail born in Jefferson.

My family spring of 2005 

Just getting started

Hello everyone! I've started this web blog to share my genealogy research.