Celebrate Your Ancestors with a Connection to April (2024)

Question

Let's celebrate our ancestors who have a special link to the month of April!  Please answer this post with some words about your ancestor and what you'd like the WikiTree community to know about them.  Don't forget to include their WikiTree ID number so that folks can visit their profile.  Photos are welcome too, though not required.

We'll celebrate your ancestor with a shout out on the Saturday Roundup Livecast; we love stories, so please share whatever you can to bring them to life.

If you need inspiration for which of your ancestors to tell us about, go to your Watchlist and then click on the Anniversaries tab.  It will give you a list of all the significant dates in April for anyone in your watchlist.

Answer 1

Lumber Accidents of the 19th to early 20th century

In many a research of the ancestors I do come across more often than not a untimely death as a result of the Lumber business in America!

One such a loss was my great grandfathers brother Joseph Amos Simpier Jr (1871 - 1901) Who is on my paternal French side. He was born April 12, 1871 in Manistee, Manistee, Michigan, He was married to a Maria C Walters (abt. 1869 - abt. 1954) May 26, 1900 but the aspirations of this hard working just married lumberman (Head sawyer at the Westside mill) didn’t last long as on July 13, 1901 he died in a much gruesome manner just trying to provide for himself and his new bride. The story can be found on his profile. 

I’d love to learn more about him in his short life but family knowledge is limited.

Thank you 

Comments

Hello Andrew,

What a tragic story that accompanied Joseph's short life.  Thank you for sharing him with us.  We'll celebrate him on today's livecast.  I hope you can join us live today at 10 am EDT/2 pm UTC or anytime afterwards.

https://www.youtube.com/live/KiLPJEZAiZg?si=YGfA9zwCT1lZ9nLt

Cheers,

Betsy

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Thank you I got to watch the episode 

The stories were so interesting! 

Answer 2

I would like to celebrate two of my ancestors:

* My great-great-uncle George Benjamin Manley who married on 19 April 1899 and was (with his brother) the inspiration for one of my One Place Studies

* My grandmother Gladys Winnifred Atkinson who died on 28 April 1991

Comments

Hello Ruth,

Thanks very much for replying to the post.  We'll celebrate both your grandmother and great great uncle on today's livecast.  I hope you can join us live today at 10 am EDT/2 pm UTC or anytime afterwards.

https://www.youtube.com/live/KiLPJEZAiZg?si=YGfA9zwCT1lZ9nLt

Cheers,

Betsy

Answer 3

Rev. William Hamilton Watkins, DD, born 11 April 1815.

Descendant of Rev. W.H. Watkins, Methodist minister (Mississippi Conference).

Because of WikiTree, I now know what my great-great-grandfather looked like! The following picture was provided by a distant cousin who found me through the profile I had posted for him.

Portrait of Reverend Watkins (c1835)

This is an excellent example of a portrait produced by an itinerant artist of the time, who had canvases with the torsos already painted (the artist would add the head & hand et voilà).

Update: I just looked up [my answer] to the 2018 Week 11 Challenge, "Lucky", which was about his portrait! (I didn't do so well in the 52 Ancestors Challenge and still haven't fulfilled my intentions stated in my answer for Week 11 - see my space page, [Liz's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks].)

Comments

Hi Liz,

I loved the story of how you came to find an image of the portrait of your ancestor!  Thanks for sharing him with us.  We'll celebrate William on today's livecast.  I hope you can join us live today at 10 am EDT/2 pm UTC or anytime afterwards.

https://www.youtube.com/live/KiLPJEZAiZg?si=YGfA9zwCT1lZ9nLt

Cheers,

Betsy

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Don't know whether to lead with "Cool!" or "Dang!" ... I stayed up WAY too late last night working on a Gwaltney/Gaultney (probable) ancestor and only just now got online. Sorry I missed the LiveCast!

Answer 4

Anna (Porcello-9) Fiordalisi grandmother B 25 April 1899

Josephine Marie (Porcello-14) Cook Great Aunt 21 April 1901

James Vincent Porcello-15. Great Uncle D 16 April 1950

Ferdinand Francois Rouquier-3 B 25 April 1906 grandfather

Yvette Marie Louie (Rouquier-2) Fiordalisi MOM 11 April 1932

Comments

Hi Anne,

You have such beautiful family profiles!  We'll celebrate your April ancestors on today's livecast.  I hope you'll be with us live as usual.

https://www.youtube.com/live/KiLPJEZAiZg?si=YGfA9zwCT1lZ9nLt

Cheers,

Betsy

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I am waiting on you live YouTube now

Answer 5

This is a 1925 newspaper clipping from my paternal grandmother's scrapbook. It tells about the wedding of my first cousin once removed Martha "Helen" Bellis. Helen was born on 17 April 1899 and passed away in April 1985.

Helen and her husband loved to travel and visit relatives. They often came to stay at my grandmother's house. It was a rooming house, so we did not lack company. The thing I clearly remember is how much my grandmother looked forward to and enjoyed their visits. 

Comments

Hi Alexis,

We celebrated Helen on last week's livecast and enjoyed looking at the beautiful photos on her profile.  Thanks for sharing her story with us.  It's always nice to meet a fellow teacher!  Did she continue teaching after marriage?

You may have already caught up with the livecast, but in case you haven't, here's the link:

https://www.youtube.com/live/Bpd0o53PYZQ?si=lfxpIXOxezTFVgdD

Thanks,

Betsy

Answer 6

I want to celebrate my dad's cousin Dennis Ray. He was married 09 Apr 1960 (she is still living).  Dennis was the son of my great-aunt Axie Frye Ray (sister of my Grandpa Frye). I didn't realize that the Frye's have very strong gene's until I met Dennis.  The 1st time I saw Dennis, I nearly cried.  He looked exactly like my Grandpa Frye--who I miss a lot.  Not only did Dennis look like Grandpa Frye, he walked like him, sounded like him, and had the same mischievous grin.  It was like having a small piece of my grandpa again.  Boy, could I tell you stories about Dennis Ray!!! (not all of them good but funny) Mom & dad told be about the time they visited Dennis in Chicago- He said, "Watch this" and stepped in front of a car--mom said he did this to collect from the driver's insurance.  Later, he became a preacher on the radio. He had many jobs over the years.  He was in the U.S. Army for a while and retired from the railroad.  The last time we visited him, my mom asked Dennis' wife what he was currently working as and his wife answered "I don't know, and I don't ask"--Dennis said he was working at a transmission shop. I like his wife's answer better.

Comments

Hi Judith,

We'll celebrate Dennis Ray on this morning's livecast.  Here's the link:

https://www.youtube.com/live/ZqHzFNFfK3s?si=gNa3Sa6sWa4LyMTQ

I hope you can join us live or anytime later.

Thanks for sharing Dennis' stories with us!

Betsy