I have only a vague recollection of my great grandmother Catherine (possibly Katherine) Richardson (nee Birdseye).
I remember she played solitaire, kept corgis and seemed to disapprove of me.
I would later confuse her with the Queen of England (although my great grandmother's corgis were friendly and not prone to nip).
The impression I had was that I was expected to be seen and not heard while in her presence.
There was to be no running, jumping, laughing or enjoying of oneself while visiting her house.
This may not have been her character at all but it was the idea of her I had as a young child.
When asked about her, my uncle said she once told him over family dinner that it was "perfectly acceptable for a married man to have a mistress as long as he was discreet about it."
I wonder what question preceded that remark. "Could you pass the peas and what are your thoughts on infidelity?"
I read about Clarence Birdseye when I was in my twenties and learned that he had eaten strange animals like skunk and that he had had adventures in the Arctic.
I made a weak attempt to identify my relation to him then, learning that he had a sister named Katherine before quickly discovering she was of the wrong generation to be my great grandmother.
I think my great gran must be the daughter of one of his siblings.
Clarence Frank Birdseye II was the son of Clarence Frank Birdseye I and Ada Jane Underwood. He had eight siblings: Miriam, Kellogg, Henry, Marjorie, Katherine, Roger and two others who don't seem to be mentioned anywhere.
Marjorie and Katherine were twins born in 1884, although Marjorie died at about nine months old.
My uncle used to mention a "cousin Kate" who lived to be about 103 and I wonder if this is the woman he meant. I hope to find that out soon.
I was also told that one of my relatives was a sea captain who had a cluster of rocks named after him in New England. This may well also be someone from the Birdseye group as many of them came from Connecticut and settled there or around New York.
Because my great grandmother was a Birdseye until she married, I will be excluding Clarence's sisters from my research.
Clarence II was married to Eleanor Gannet in 1915 and they had four children; Kellogg, Ruth, Eleanor and Henry (so my great grandmother was not his daughter).
If I go back further, Clarence I was the son of Lucien Birdseye, whom I believe to be my great great great grandfather. Lucien had five children but aside from Clarence, there was only one other son. It is entirely possible my great grandmother came from this line. Again, I will have to do deeper research.
Lucien was the son of Victory Birdseye who was a lawyer and U.S. Congressman. Lucien was also a lawyer as was Clarence the elder.
From what I've read so far, Clarence II was fascinating to people of all ages who met him.
He liked birds and bugs and flowers and trees so chances are, regardless of any kinship, he and I would have had a lot to talk about.
However, while I love birds for their intelligence and habits, Clarence seemed to be interested in how they might taste and to what industrial purpose they could be put.
Kurlansky writes, "Birdseye-was a source of endless fascination in affluent Eastern Point. It was not just that he was famous. Or that he had lived a life of adventure and was full of stories about the Rocky Mountains and the Southwest at the beginning of the twentieth century and the wild frozen frontier of Labrador before World War I. It was that he seemed to be interested in almost everything and knew a great deal about most of it."
Before I surrender my credit card details to Ancestry.com I may just interview my uncle again to see if I can get any further details about his Birdseye great grandparents.
I remember she played solitaire, kept corgis and seemed to disapprove of me.
I would later confuse her with the Queen of England (although my great grandmother's corgis were friendly and not prone to nip).
The impression I had was that I was expected to be seen and not heard while in her presence.
There was to be no running, jumping, laughing or enjoying of oneself while visiting her house.
This may not have been her character at all but it was the idea of her I had as a young child.
When asked about her, my uncle said she once told him over family dinner that it was "perfectly acceptable for a married man to have a mistress as long as he was discreet about it."
I wonder what question preceded that remark. "Could you pass the peas and what are your thoughts on infidelity?"
I read about Clarence Birdseye when I was in my twenties and learned that he had eaten strange animals like skunk and that he had had adventures in the Arctic.
I made a weak attempt to identify my relation to him then, learning that he had a sister named Katherine before quickly discovering she was of the wrong generation to be my great grandmother.
I think my great gran must be the daughter of one of his siblings.
Clarence Frank Birdseye II was the son of Clarence Frank Birdseye I and Ada Jane Underwood. He had eight siblings: Miriam, Kellogg, Henry, Marjorie, Katherine, Roger and two others who don't seem to be mentioned anywhere.
Marjorie and Katherine were twins born in 1884, although Marjorie died at about nine months old.
My uncle used to mention a "cousin Kate" who lived to be about 103 and I wonder if this is the woman he meant. I hope to find that out soon.
I was also told that one of my relatives was a sea captain who had a cluster of rocks named after him in New England. This may well also be someone from the Birdseye group as many of them came from Connecticut and settled there or around New York.
Because my great grandmother was a Birdseye until she married, I will be excluding Clarence's sisters from my research.
Clarence II was married to Eleanor Gannet in 1915 and they had four children; Kellogg, Ruth, Eleanor and Henry (so my great grandmother was not his daughter).
If I go back further, Clarence I was the son of Lucien Birdseye, whom I believe to be my great great great grandfather. Lucien had five children but aside from Clarence, there was only one other son. It is entirely possible my great grandmother came from this line. Again, I will have to do deeper research.
Lucien was the son of Victory Birdseye who was a lawyer and U.S. Congressman. Lucien was also a lawyer as was Clarence the elder.
From what I've read so far, Clarence II was fascinating to people of all ages who met him.
He liked birds and bugs and flowers and trees so chances are, regardless of any kinship, he and I would have had a lot to talk about.
However, while I love birds for their intelligence and habits, Clarence seemed to be interested in how they might taste and to what industrial purpose they could be put.
Kurlansky writes, "Birdseye-was a source of endless fascination in affluent Eastern Point. It was not just that he was famous. Or that he had lived a life of adventure and was full of stories about the Rocky Mountains and the Southwest at the beginning of the twentieth century and the wild frozen frontier of Labrador before World War I. It was that he seemed to be interested in almost everything and knew a great deal about most of it."
Before I surrender my credit card details to Ancestry.com I may just interview my uncle again to see if I can get any further details about his Birdseye great grandparents.
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