Growing up, I heard such wonderful stories from my grandmother about our family.
I'm related to some really amazing women.
One was the first woman in her state to get her pilots license.
One tied herself to an ancient tree to prevent it from being chopped down.
One lived past the age of 100.
Four generations of women before me received a college education.
But who were they? What were their names? How are we related?
Two of these women are my mother and grandmother but with the rest, I have no idea.
I should have asked and listened.
My grandmother Anor passed away almost 20 years ago and she was the one in the family who kept track of all the children and the once-removed cousins.
The following is what I know, what I remember hearing and what I'm guessing at when it comes to uncle Clarence.
Winterpark, Florida and its surrounds were filled with members of my Phillips side of the family.
My father was Richard Kent Phillips, son of Harrop and Anor Phillips (nee Richardson) and older brother to Scott and Katherine Phillips.
My father died when I was 13-months-old and I am his only child.
My uncle Scott had two children, my cousins Christopher and Lindsey.
My aunt had no biological children.
When I was an infant my family moved away from Florida and settled in New Orleans until my father's death. Next, we lived in Mobile before mother remarried and we moved to Dothan, Alabama. When I was five, we moved to Birmingham, Alabama which is where I grew up.
There were aspects of my personality and thinking that were always distinctive to my mother's.
I had my own quirks and habits and points of view that seemed to originate from nowhere until I spent time with the Phillips clan in Florida.
Even though I grew up hundreds of miles away and had limited summertime visits, the similarities between myself and this part of the family amazed me.
My grandmother, Anor, was the daughter of Rich Richardson (yes, really) and Catherine Richardson (nee Birdseye).
It is my interest in the latter which has brought me to the mystery of uncle Clarence.
The Clarence I am speaking of is Clarence Frank Birdseye II, naturalist, entrepreneur and inventor of the modern process of freezing foods.
Perhaps you've heard of Birdseye Frozen foods? That's my family. Somehow.
I believe Clarence is my great-great-great uncle but I am having a devil of a time hunting down the family records that prove it.
This is probably because I'm looking at public census reports and the free content on ancestry websites.
To get to the real meat and potatoes of the family tree it appears I'll have to fork over some cash.
So far, I've been using probable and known birth dates and shreds of information I remember being told.
Because Clarence was famous, there's quite a bit of information about him available.
I'm currently reading his biography, "Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man" by Mark Kurlansky.
Aside from being a great read about a remarkable man, it has provided me with a wealth of information about Birdseye geneaology.
I continue to research.
I'm related to some really amazing women.
One was the first woman in her state to get her pilots license.
One tied herself to an ancient tree to prevent it from being chopped down.
One lived past the age of 100.
But who were they? What were their names? How are we related?
Two of these women are my mother and grandmother but with the rest, I have no idea.
I should have asked and listened.
My grandmother Anor passed away almost 20 years ago and she was the one in the family who kept track of all the children and the once-removed cousins.
The following is what I know, what I remember hearing and what I'm guessing at when it comes to uncle Clarence.
Winterpark, Florida and its surrounds were filled with members of my Phillips side of the family.
My father was Richard Kent Phillips, son of Harrop and Anor Phillips (nee Richardson) and older brother to Scott and Katherine Phillips.
My father died when I was 13-months-old and I am his only child.
My uncle Scott had two children, my cousins Christopher and Lindsey.
My aunt had no biological children.
When I was an infant my family moved away from Florida and settled in New Orleans until my father's death. Next, we lived in Mobile before mother remarried and we moved to Dothan, Alabama. When I was five, we moved to Birmingham, Alabama which is where I grew up.
There were aspects of my personality and thinking that were always distinctive to my mother's.
I had my own quirks and habits and points of view that seemed to originate from nowhere until I spent time with the Phillips clan in Florida.
Even though I grew up hundreds of miles away and had limited summertime visits, the similarities between myself and this part of the family amazed me.
My grandmother, Anor, was the daughter of Rich Richardson (yes, really) and Catherine Richardson (nee Birdseye).
It is my interest in the latter which has brought me to the mystery of uncle Clarence.
The Clarence I am speaking of is Clarence Frank Birdseye II, naturalist, entrepreneur and inventor of the modern process of freezing foods.
Perhaps you've heard of Birdseye Frozen foods? That's my family. Somehow.
I believe Clarence is my great-great-great uncle but I am having a devil of a time hunting down the family records that prove it.
This is probably because I'm looking at public census reports and the free content on ancestry websites.
To get to the real meat and potatoes of the family tree it appears I'll have to fork over some cash.
So far, I've been using probable and known birth dates and shreds of information I remember being told.
Because Clarence was famous, there's quite a bit of information about him available.
I'm currently reading his biography, "Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man" by Mark Kurlansky.
Aside from being a great read about a remarkable man, it has provided me with a wealth of information about Birdseye geneaology.
I continue to research.
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