A decidedly subjective point of view with stories and pictures.
My parents were born and raised in Binghamton, New York. They raised us there, in the First Ward. Their brothers and sisters and our cousins were settled in or near Binghamton while we were kids. This extended family, the neighborhood history and dynamics and the geography, the landscape and light, of Central New York shaped my consciousness.
Part genealogy, part history, part anecdote, this ongoing project is an attempt to describe the experiences of these people, to understand some of their motivation, put into a record to share.
Reasons and methods
I was enthralled early in my childhood by stories our grandmother, Harriet Wood, told of her memories of the Wood, Wilcox, Rosevear and Pomery families. She charged these stories with meaning out of the vibrancy of her memory and the feeling she must have had that kept these memories living in her. I knew Harriet’s mother, Emma Jane Pomery, our great grandmother, who had come to America from England with 3 young children to follow her husband Jacob. The enthusiasm our grandmother engaged and the living link to the past century through Emma Jane inspired a kind of awe in me for the strength and pleasure in their family these women had.
The stories linked me to these people, created a sense in me of continuity to people and to events before me that I couldn’t have known but that I was bound to as family. These stories became the foundation for an early identity. I listened but didn’t ask a lot of questions and missed opportunities to get more detail.
Our father never spoke of his family, the Wheelers, except a very occasional mention of his grandfather Clinton and what he spoke of Clinton was minimal. Our grandfather Ralph never spoke of the family to us. Ralph Wheeler had a powerful presence and his children were respectful, almost deferential, in his presence. He had been a lifelong soldier and something of this allegiance emanated from him. I wanted to know more about our father’s side of the family.
All the information I had when I began this project came from notes made by me or our mother about her family that I had kept on scraps of paper. Our mother kept a box of old photographs that I would dig out and rummage through, memorizing faces and asking for names. The photographs added depth, emotion, to the stories. These were actual people whose lives touched mine, who were part of me. Our mother had a typewritten genealogy of the Wood family given to her by one of her cousins and which she gave to me. There is no documentation and no proof to support the marriages, and children listed. Our mother had also been contacted by a distant Rosevear relative in England for information about her mother’s parents. She also gave me this information. I wanted to put the information I had into a more permanent, sensible form; to show that the relationships and connections had a meaning within a context and to share this with our family and their children.
I began with the names I knew closest to us in time and location, to find documentation for dates, places and events that would verify the stories I had heard. This was relatively easy for our mother’s family but not so easy for our father’s family. Verification of names and dates came from census records and city directories. I learned to use grave markers for dates, locations and relationships.
There are several Wheeler family trees organized on the Ancestry.com website, but very little documentation associated with these family relationships. There are more than a few errors I know of and so do not fully trust these relationships to be reliable. I do use them for clues and next step investigations.
Two sources that provide deep genealogical background, but again, no verifiable documentation are The genealogical and encyclopedic history of the Wheeler family in America, by Albert G. Wheeler, which can be viewed online for free at the Internet Archive website and the Rosevear family history: 1440-2005, by Bob Roseveare.
About me
I am named after my father, Donald, and my mother’s father, Forrest. I was born and raised in Binghamton, New York, during the 1950’s, and 60’s. In the early 1970's I embarked on my personal adventure away from Binghamton. I came back and left again a few times throughout the 1970's. By 1980 I had left pretty much for good although the roots are deep and I visit frequently. After living in New York City (another bunch of stories) for 37 years I've moved back upstate, to a small city in Central New York. I live with 3 cats and a writer in a small house with a view of hills. On some clear evenings the moon is outside our windows.
My parents were born and raised in Binghamton, New York. They raised us there, in the First Ward. Their brothers and sisters and our cousins were settled in or near Binghamton while we were kids. This extended family, the neighborhood history and dynamics and the geography, the landscape and light, of Central New York shaped my consciousness.
Part genealogy, part history, part anecdote, this ongoing project is an attempt to describe the experiences of these people, to understand some of their motivation, put into a record to share.
Reasons and methods
I was enthralled early in my childhood by stories our grandmother, Harriet Wood, told of her memories of the Wood, Wilcox, Rosevear and Pomery families. She charged these stories with meaning out of the vibrancy of her memory and the feeling she must have had that kept these memories living in her. I knew Harriet’s mother, Emma Jane Pomery, our great grandmother, who had come to America from England with 3 young children to follow her husband Jacob. The enthusiasm our grandmother engaged and the living link to the past century through Emma Jane inspired a kind of awe in me for the strength and pleasure in their family these women had.
The stories linked me to these people, created a sense in me of continuity to people and to events before me that I couldn’t have known but that I was bound to as family. These stories became the foundation for an early identity. I listened but didn’t ask a lot of questions and missed opportunities to get more detail.
Our father never spoke of his family, the Wheelers, except a very occasional mention of his grandfather Clinton and what he spoke of Clinton was minimal. Our grandfather Ralph never spoke of the family to us. Ralph Wheeler had a powerful presence and his children were respectful, almost deferential, in his presence. He had been a lifelong soldier and something of this allegiance emanated from him. I wanted to know more about our father’s side of the family.
All the information I had when I began this project came from notes made by me or our mother about her family that I had kept on scraps of paper. Our mother kept a box of old photographs that I would dig out and rummage through, memorizing faces and asking for names. The photographs added depth, emotion, to the stories. These were actual people whose lives touched mine, who were part of me. Our mother had a typewritten genealogy of the Wood family given to her by one of her cousins and which she gave to me. There is no documentation and no proof to support the marriages, and children listed. Our mother had also been contacted by a distant Rosevear relative in England for information about her mother’s parents. She also gave me this information. I wanted to put the information I had into a more permanent, sensible form; to show that the relationships and connections had a meaning within a context and to share this with our family and their children.
I began with the names I knew closest to us in time and location, to find documentation for dates, places and events that would verify the stories I had heard. This was relatively easy for our mother’s family but not so easy for our father’s family. Verification of names and dates came from census records and city directories. I learned to use grave markers for dates, locations and relationships.
There are several Wheeler family trees organized on the Ancestry.com website, but very little documentation associated with these family relationships. There are more than a few errors I know of and so do not fully trust these relationships to be reliable. I do use them for clues and next step investigations.
Two sources that provide deep genealogical background, but again, no verifiable documentation are The genealogical and encyclopedic history of the Wheeler family in America, by Albert G. Wheeler, which can be viewed online for free at the Internet Archive website and the Rosevear family history: 1440-2005, by Bob Roseveare.
About me
I am named after my father, Donald, and my mother’s father, Forrest. I was born and raised in Binghamton, New York, during the 1950’s, and 60’s. In the early 1970's I embarked on my personal adventure away from Binghamton. I came back and left again a few times throughout the 1970's. By 1980 I had left pretty much for good although the roots are deep and I visit frequently. After living in New York City (another bunch of stories) for 37 years I've moved back upstate, to a small city in Central New York. I live with 3 cats and a writer in a small house with a view of hills. On some clear evenings the moon is outside our windows.