Conflict in Our Family Trees

This month’s writing challenge, as offered by genealogist Amy Johnson Crow, is Conflict. Over the course of human history, conflict has abounded.

Our collective family has its own share of conflict. For nearly a dozen years, I have documented many of these family conflicts, some big and some small. Here are my top 20 “all-time favorite” family conflict posts:

Penelope (Worden) Woodmansee

On this day, 2 April 1805, Penelope (Worden) Woodmansee (my 7th great-grandmother) passed away in Dover Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey.

Born on 24 March 1728, Penelope was the daughter of Samuel Worden and Abigail Mott. She joined her elder sister, Phebe Worden, born on 30 June 1724, and brother Benjamin, born on 7 June 1726.

Circa 1730, brother Samuel was welcomed to the family. Four years later, circa 1734, sister Sarah arrived. In 1738, sister Hannah came along. Then, circa 1740, Penelope’s final known sibling, sister Silence was born. Although little more is known about Penelope’s childhood, much is known about her birthplace.

Everyday Women, Everyday Lives

In celebration of Women’s History Month, March’s 12 Ancestors in 12 Months writing prompt is Females.

For more than 12 years, I have written about hundreds of women in our combined family trees, many of them found in the pages of history books. In this post, I wanted to focus on everyday women—ten to them to be exact—who died in March. Although these women lived simpler lives than our more famous forebearers, their lives were important nonetheless, especially to those of us who proudly call them ”family.“

Same Trunks, Different Branches

Thank goodness that I had a whole month to do my 12 Ancestors in 12 Months post because this one took a whole lot longer than I expected.

February’s writing prompt, Branching Out, got me thinking about the limbs and offshoots of our family trees. Although I, like most genealogists, often focus on direct ancestors, as evidenced by this blog, I occasionally scale branches of our indirect relatives, discovering distant cousins amongst the twigs.

Thomas Chamberlin

On this day, 8 February 1831, Thomas Chamberlin (my 6th great-grandfather) passed away. Born in 1754, Thomas Chamberlain (Chamberlin) was the son of James and Lydia Chamberlain. The family lived on their homestead situated on Oyster Creek, midway between the towns of Barnegat and Waretown in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Some of Thomas’ siblings were brothers David and Jobe and sisters Rebecca, Lydia, and Mary.