Happy Birthday Ancestors!
Birth Month Monday is a blog theme I created to highlight my ancestors and the significant and/or noteworthy events during their life - and post it on Monday.
Five of my ancestors were born in February. Common to all of them were epidemics, cholera and/or flu, various wars and the election of several Presidents during their lifetime. And the weather – very cold, possibly snowing in February – except for Uncle Cecil who was born in southern California. Placing my ancestors in selected historical contexts illustrates what they lived without until the advances were made. Deeper research may reveal the extent to which an invention/event impacted their lives.
Hannah Carrigan (Clark), born 3 Feb 1819; died 7 Mar 1854. Inventions included the railroad in 1828 and telegraph in 1833.
My relationship: 3rd great-grandmother
Hannah married Benjamin Daniel Clark
Child, Jane who married Thomas Brown
Child Ida who married Henry Martin Kendall
Child Ethel who married Alba William Hibsch
Child Robert who married Betty Hutson
Child – Me!
Henry Martin Kendall, born 9 Feb 1864 in Rowan County, Kentucky; died 14 May 1937 in Los Angeles County, California. Inventions included the telephone in 1876, electric light bulb in 1879 and the automobile in 1885. I’m not sure he flew on an airplane, invented when he was 39, but he probably read newspapers accounts of the exciting invention.
My relationship: great-grandfather
Henry married Ida May Brown
Child Ethel who married Alba William Hibsch
Child Robert who married Betty Hutson
Child – Me!
Caroline Ernestine Hibsch (Williams) (Dripps), born 4 Feb 1867 in Prussia; died 21 Jun 1943 in Los Angeles County, California. In addition to the inventions of Henry Kendall’s time, Caroline may have taken advantage of the bra invented in 1914 when she was 47. What were her thoughts about women receiving the right to vote in the United States in 1920? She was 53 – did she vote? In 1928, the television and penicillin were invented. Was there a TV in her house? Did she benefit from penicillin?
My relationship: my 2nd great aunt
Caroline’s brother W.C. married Martha Bashor
Child Alba who married Ethel May Kendall
Child Robert who married Betty Hutson
Child – Me!
John Ernest Hibsch, born 19 Feb 1880 in Calumet County, Wisconsin; died 7 Aug 1966 in Los Angeles County, California. Inventions included the short-wave radio, the bikini, color TV, 45 rpm recordings and the polio vaccine. How did this first-generation German-American handle the prohibition era when he was 38 to 53 years old and working in a grocery store?
My relationship: 2nd great uncle
John’s brother W.C. married Martha Bashor
Child Alba who married Ethel May Kendall
Child Robert who married Betty Hutson
Child – Me!
Cecil Everett Hibsch, born 7 Feb 1902 in Los Angeles County, California; died 15 Jun 1981 in Williams, Colusa County, California. His lifespan was rich with noteworthy events such as the Moon-landing in 1969, Watergate and Nixon resignation and 1st test-tube baby in 1978, 1st woman Supreme Court Justice and 1st space shuttle flight in 1981 at age 79.
My relationship: great uncle
Cecil’s brother Alba married Ethel May Kendall
Child Robert who married Betty Hutson
Child – Me!
Happy Birthday! You'd be amazed at what's available today.
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Parenthetical = married name
Event Source: Our Times
Images Source: Creative Commons
