Returning...with the Wilsons

Yes, I've been gone a long time from this blog. Getting the Daugherty/Carrington Newsletter, Prairie Roots sent, writing for a local art magazine, and getting ready for a trip to Italy has taken its toll. I'm back for a few days now, until the 16th of June when cousin Pam Rounseville and her husband Dave and I go for a family visit to South Dakota. We'll spend two weeks meeting and re-meeting family members. Pam and I haven't seen each other for years and years so I can imagine we'll have a wonderful time. Our mothers, Delores & Helen, were sisters. Mom (Helen) is living here in Wisconsin. Delores passed away a few months ago.

I am just thrilled to have come home to an E-Mail from David Williams. He found this blog and is another contact person in my belated search for Wilson relatives. He is the Great grandson of John Fletcher Wilson, the brother of William White Wilson, my second GGrandfather. Dave sent me a wonderful wedding photo of Mary Wilson Hill and Wardell Hill. Now I know that the beautiful "mystery" young woman above center, is Mary (Maude) for sure. Check out earlier postings about her tragic story.

David has had the same situation as the rest of us...wanting to learn more about the generations before John Fletcher and William. We know that their parents were Joseph M. Wilson and Annie White. From inferences from other writers, I'm wondering if "Annie" was a middle name. Both seem to have been born in Sullivan County Pennsylvania.

I just checked for information on Sullivan County. Several counties, including Lucerne (where William White Wilson was born) and Sullivan, were part of Northumberland County...then Lycoming, and lastly, in 1847, Sullivan. The population in 2000 was 6556. The area is over 2,000 ft. above sea level and appears to be very rural. It's area is only 478 square miles. A couple of years ago I met a woman from Nova Scotia who also has roots from that area at the same time period. She was confident that we shared ancestors, as the population was so small. I need to get in contact with her again.

From here, I suppose I need to check any county records of that time period, if they exist at all. From some sources, the Wilsons were German and Scotch/Irish (perhaps this last from Annie's family???).

It's gratifying to add another individual interested in this family. Pam and I will be seeing several Wilson family members this month. Most of their information on the Wilsons has already been compiled in the Wilson-Enke Descendents book, written in 1977 by Bonnie Cavenee Runge.

Thanks, Dave, for writing. Although I created this Blog primarily to keep me fine-tuned to information that was collecting dust on my shelves, it's always great to know that there are interested readers.