Hi! I'm Leslie Lapham.

Question

Hi, everyone!

I started working with WikiTree about three weeks ago, and have been very encouraged by the sense of community and service here.  Thanks to everyone who has already welcomed me.  I look forward to meeting more of you and continuing our work together.

I'm a former reference librarian, and love uncovering facts and stories about my family and others.  I'm researching the following families:

• Lapham - RI > Champaign co. OH > Chanute, KS
• Bugbee - ME > Neosho co., KS
• Bonham - NJ > PA > KY > IL > TX > KS
• Wright - NY > IL > KS
• Hudson - Marblehead, MA > Norfolk co., MA > Will co., Illinois
• Harmson/Hamson/Hanson and Chapmans from Marblehead, MA in 1700s
• Rose/Johnston - Medfield, Norfolk, MA > Will co., Illinois
• Comte/Poupeney/Bowers families in Carondelet, St. Louis, MO
• Jenkins - KY > Amazonia, Andrew, MO
• Kelly/O'Beirne - Strokestown, Roscommon, Ireland > Buchanan/Andrew counties, Missouri
• Upton/Adams - England > NY > MO/KS > Omaha, NE
• Rosenbury/Rosenberry - PA > OH > IN > MO
• Dearing/Rogers/Wine - VA > Ralls co., MO > Monroe co., MO > Audrain co., MO
• Cecil and Coller/Culler/Koller - Frederick co., MD > OH > Kansas City, MO
• Seeger and Snyder/Schneider - Germany > Cincinnati, OH > KY > Kansas City, MO

I decided not to import a GEDCOM, but to add each person individually, to force me to write at least a skeletal biography, and to take a fresh look at all the sources I've collected for each person.  If any of the lines I mentioned look like they may join yours, but you need more detail, let me know and we'll compare notes, and I'll move that line up in priority for entry. 

Once I've linked up lines to the big tree, I look forward to exploring projects and other ways to contribute.  

Thanks for the guidance and assistance you've already provided.  I've learned some wonderful information about my family and can't wait to connect with more of you.

Thanks!

Leslie

Comments

This sounds like a good plan Leslie. Welcome to Wikitree.

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Greetings Leslie Lapham

 

Welcome, Work, laugh and Enjoy ..

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/9/19/1330745/-GFHC-Open-Thread-Genealogy-Cartoons-Jokes-and-Memes

 

WikiTree .. C'est Bon Magnifique ..

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What a wonderful post. Thank you, Leslie! It looks like you're a valuable addition to our community.

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Welcome to Wikitree :)

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Welcome to WikiTree, Leslie! Hope you enjoy your time here!

I don't see any direct relations in your list, but several that are close. Branches are funny like that - they go off in a lot of unusual directions and cross where we least expect them to.

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Anne, Chris, and J Murray - thanks for the welcome.

Thanks for sharing, Jerry.  I could relate to so many of these :-)

Scott, I'm always amazed at the twists, and turns of the branches, as well as close names that may/may not be related to each other.

Answer 1

Hi, Leslie--- The "former reference librarian" caught my eye. I've been doing genealogy for a long, long time but I've only been on WikiTree a few days -- and I'm retired from the staff of the Dallas Public Library. Ex-history specialist & archivist, but (of course) I did it all while climbing the staff ladder, beginning in the '60s.

 

I note you have Bonhams in Texas, and if that's the branch that was in Old Red River County, I may have data you can use. I've been on WeRelate since the beginning and have created pages there for some 6,000 early Red River settlers and their families, so you might want to take a look. (That's far too much stuff to upload to WikiTree, so it will probably stay there.)

 

Mike

Comments

Welcome to WikiTree, Michael. Since you've contributed so much to WeRelate we're lucky to have you contributing here.

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Thanks, Mike.  

My 4G grandparents Garrett Bonham (1813-1870) and Julia Ann Claywell  (1823-1911) and their children traveled by wagon from Macomb, Illinois ~1859 and settled in [S]cyene, outside of Dallas, where they appear in the 1860 Census (household of Garret Bonham).  Garrett Bonham also appears in the 1861, 1862 and 1864 Dallas County tax rolls.  They headed back to Illinois about a year after the war ended, and ended up settling in Neosho county Kansas before 1870.  

Most of this information came from typed transcripts/memoirs that have been photocopied several times and passed around the family.  I'm trying to track down the originals and get permission to redistribute them (with better information about when/why they were created).  They are fascinating accounts of "pioneer life."  I especially like lengthy account of my 3G grandmother, who was about five-years-old when the family started their journey to Texas, and she either wrote out or dictated her recollections when she was an adult, with information about the wagon in which they traveled and how they learned to make thread and weave fabric when they couldn't buy new fabric in Texas during the war.

I didn't see any Bonhams from Texas in WeRelate that looked like close relations, but do think they have common ancestors several generations before.  What a treasure trove of information you've assembled!  I enjoyed looking through it.

Leslie

"United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXFN-FG7 : accessed 25 May 2016), Garret Bonham, 1860.

"Texas, County Tax Rolls, 1837-1910", database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VY11-M4H : accessed 25 May 2016), Garrett Bonham, 1864.