John Nason’s name is also spelled Johanius or Johnnius Nasonne. Birth years of 1577 and 1580 are also mentioned, but September 3, 1585 is the generally accepted date. One source also mentioned that he was baptized on March 23, 1580. He was born in Wellesbourne, Warwickshire on the Mickle Meadow Farm. His father and mother were Ananius Nason and Ursula Rogers. He married Elizabeth Rogers in...
Ananias Nason (1551-52 – 1631)
Ananias Nason, a son of William Nason (1517/27-1573), was born in Charlecote, Warwickshire, England on July 10, 1551/52. His name is also spelled as Ananias Nasonne. Ananias moved his family to the Mickle Meadow Farm near the town of Stratford-Upon-Avon around 1580. He was a contemporary of William Shakespeare (1564-1616) a playwright and poet who lived in the same area. The 16th century began...
Clarence Anderson (1894-1953)
The story of Clarence Anderson’s life is filled with holes, gaps, and questions. His parents were both dead before my mom and her brothers and sisters were old enough to ask or remember their stories. A vindictive in-law, Anne Finlan, disliked the Andersens intensely (why?) and destroyed boxes of papers and keepsakes when Karl Andersen died in 1930. Those papers–letters, documents, photos...
William Nason – 1517/27-1573
William Nason (or William Nasonne) is our first known ancestor. In the 1500s Nasons began appearing in Stratford-upon-Avon, Wellesbourne and Charlecote villages, county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Before that, they may have lived in another part of England, or arrived from Holland, as one 19th century writer posited. The information on William Nason is sketchy. He may...
Frank Pavlosk
Frank Pavlosk, my great grandfather, was born on October 1, 1871. He immigrated from Marienwerder, West Prussia, in 1887 or thereabouts when he was in his late teens. Marienwerder is now the northern Polish city of Kwidzyn, located about 60 miles from the Baltic Sea. He left with his brothers and sisters, and they never went back. Their mother and father remained in Prussia. The family were...
Sister Time and A Beautiful Walk
My sister, Sharon M. Doherty Longworth, and my brother-in-law, Christopher Longworth, enjoyed a good visit with us last month. On Thursday afternoon, October 14, 2021 we had a beach walk at Orient State Park. The weather was picture-perfect. We even found beach glass for Sharon. Chris made a video which captures that most beautiful memory of that day.
Orient Beach Video 101421
Carl Anderson (1856-1930)
Reading over documents and written family stories, I have seen an evolution in the spelling of Carl Anderson’s name: Karl Andersen (Norway), Carl Andersen (1901) and Carl Anderson (1930). I don’t know why he changed the spelling of his name. My Uncle, Ernest Andersen, thought it may have been to “Americanize” it. In its wake, some of Karl’s grandchildren go by “Anderson” and others “Andersen...
The Family Farm Hurv to the Andersen Family in Froland, Norway
The Hurv farm was in Froland, a municipality about 10 miles north of Grimstad. It borders Grimstad and Arendal in Aust Agder county. In 1968, family members still lived on the farm. It is spelled Fróðaland (“Froo’s (farm) land”) in Old Norse. Grimstad is a coastal town in southern Norway. According to Odd Ronning Andersen, a cousin I corresponded with in 1968/1969, Norwegians used their farm...
Ed Murphy: Gay Blackmailer and Activist
Ed Murphy is not a relation, but he’s an interesting story in my life. Ed was an integral figure in the “Chickens and the Bulls” homosexual blackmail scandal in the mid-1960s. He was probably involved in a series of blackmail schemes run by the Mob out of the Stonewall Inn in New York as well. He stole, and threatened and blackmailed most of his life. He got away with it...
Mom and Dad’s Burial
Three years ago this week, on June 14, 2018, we buried Mom and Dad in Rosedale Cemetery in Linden, New Jersey. Both my parents had originally been cremated, but my sister, Sharon, and I decided to bring them back home to New Jersey for burial. Mom and Dad both grew up, met, married, and started a family in Elizabeth, a town about five miles away. There is a special closure in coming...