52 Ancestors Week 7 - Valentine [closed]

Question

Week 7: Valentine

AJC - Is there a love story in your family tree? Maybe a couple was married on Valentine's Day or you have a valentine that one ancestor gave to another. Maybe you have an ancestor named Valentine.

Are there any interesting Valentine Day traditions in your family?

 

Comments

What is associated with Valentines? Hearts! 

I was struggling to find an inspiration for this prompt.  The people with a February 14^th birthday or wedding anniversary were not going anywhere for me and no Valentine places or surnames.  Then I realized I have lots and lots of HARTS to choose from.

I always knew my grandfather Lucian Hart was descended from a Hart family that went back to the founding of Connecticut.  But my Hart ancestry turned out to be a bit more complicated than I had ever dreamed.

Louisa (Bly) Bentley, my 3^rd great-grandmother and mother of Harriet (Bentley) Arthur from “Census” had some surprises in her background.  Trying to find Louisa's maiden name I hit a brick wall for years.  Not too long ago, that mystery was finally solved.  In the process, I learned Louisa's mother's name was Ruth Hart.  Since I already knew a lineage book existed for Deacon Stephen Hart, it seemed a logical place to start looking for Ruth although I really didn't expect to find a link. 

My grandparents Lucian and Lottie (Wright) Hart were 8^th cousins once removed.  Not only that, my grandmother was descended from two, possibly three different children of Stephen Hart.  (I don't have all the links in Wikitree at this time).  My grandfather Lucian’s family came from yet another son of Stephen, but only the one.  So my grandmother Lottie, who I very much doubt knew there were any Harts in her family background, had more links than her husband who had the surname.

Looking at the widely differing routes their Hart families took to finally get to Michigan from Connecticut, I'm amazed my grandparents ended up in the same place at the same time to even meet each other!

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The Harts - what a brilliant Inspiration!! Thanks Jill.

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Too many profiles to go through to look for Valentines birthdays... but we do have some romantic names, such as Queen Victoria Wonser, my d-in -laws 2x ggramma. We also have 3 Angels... Laverie Angeline Williams, Margaret Angeline Long, and Angie Lange. We also have a couple of Roses, Rose Condley Bandy and Angie Rose Lange. We have a Viola Callaway and a Violet Blevins. We also have a couple of Stars names Stella.

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I was checking to make sure I knew which 52 week answers I still needed to do and discovered I had commented instead of answering this prompt so it didn't show up on my answered question feed.  Does it make any difference to the challenge?

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Well I (Robynne) did count it for you, because it was a very thorough response to the prompt.

However, if Chris or Eowyn are checking to see who has 52 answers (for the badge requirements)  then technically, no,  a comment probably wont count.

I would suggest that you redo it as an answer.

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7th... My wife issued divorce proceedings on 14 Feb after dumping me exactly 1 year prior! How does one forget the date??

Answer 1

I've struggled trying to find someone appropriate to talk about under Valentine.  

I finally came up with Florence Warrell, nee Wright.  She was my husbands 2nd great grandmother.  Family stories passed down in three continents say she died of a broken heart shortly after he husbands death.  She was only 32 years of age.  She had five girls with Charlie, the youngest three ended up in the Soho workhouse.  

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Whight-4

Answer 2

This week I blogged about Catherine Keeley Evans because she and her husband Amos were my longest married ancestral couple. They were married over 61 years when Amos died in 1884. 

Here's the blog post.

And here's her profile.

Now off to see how others interpreted this prompt!

Answer 3

I'm kind of at a loss here, so I posted my first cousin twice removed, [[Vachon-212|Alvin Vachon]] who was born on February 14, 1903.

Answer 4

It seems I'm behind as usual in getting the themed post up but, here goes:

What comes to mind first and foremost for Valentines, would be my paternal grandparents.  Throughout my childhood, they were synonymous with love, and had the most loving relationship I knew.

Beginning in April 1926, my grandmother worked as a stenographer on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation (Oregon).  My grandfather worked for the Indian Bureau at that time and received an appointment also to Warm Springs in February 1927 [that's Valentines month!]. There they met for the first time.  Cupid's arrows must have struck them big time, as they married just six months later on 17 August 1927 in Okanogan, WA.

They remained lovingly married until Grandpa's death on Christmas Eve 1970 - too soon!

[Nelson-14992] and [Haas-2348]

Answer 5

This one took a bit of thinking about. https://feetuptimetothink.blogspot.co.nz/2018/02/52-ancestors-week-6-valentines-day-mary.html I hope you like the engagement ring of my grandmother, Mary McMichael. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/King-18848

Answer 6

My Valentine is of course my husband, but because he is living I will keep this between the two of us.

I do have a shimmy shirt tail relationship to the Valentines in Scotland, but at the moment I don't believe there is any blood connection. They are found amoung one of my Smith families.

I do have a 8th great grand uncle named David Valentin(e) Shurtz/Shurts (here on Wikitree it is Valentin David and in my family file David "Valentine David" Shurtz) born in about 1700 in Germany he is the son of Michael Shurtz and Catherine Unknonwn.  To see more visit the family here at https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Schurtz-17.

He does need adoption if someone would be interested. At the moment I need to take care those I have adopted already!  

 

Answer 7

I'm so sorry, I've been completely flat-out for the past month and am just now finding time to catch up on my 52/52 entries!  :)

The ultimate Valentine's story in my list goes to my great-great-grandparents, Christopher Dunne and Anne Guilfoyle.  Family lore has it that they were sweethearts in Ireland, then he moved to New York. She followed him two years later.  They had a total of 13 children.  One day in 1934, Chris went out as usual to buy Annie her sweet buns, came home and died.  That day was Valentine's Day. 

Comments

You are not alone!  I published my Week 7 blog post two days ago. You have an incredible Valentine story there. It would make for a great movie :).

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Well done on catching up Vicky!!

Answer 8

This is probably not going to be a very satisfying Valentine.

First thing that comes to mind is a song which came out when I was 19: "Les histoires d'A", by Les Rita Mitsouko. The actual text goes "Les histoires d'amour finissent mal (en général)". At the time, the "en général" part struck me as optimistic.

Both my grandmothers had a brother who committed suicide for love. One of them, Charles, died at 79, a few months after his wife of almost 50 years died of throat cancer. The other one, René, shot himself at 20 after being dumped by a girlfriend.

Since Valentine is a girl's name in France, today's Valentine is my great-grandmother, Andréa Valentine Dequeker. Her name of Valentine probably comes from her mother's youngest sister, Valentine Jeanne, who died at the age of six months.

Andréa married  an army friend of one of her brothers, and he was like a fairy tale prince, taking his wife out for rides in the park in a horse-drawn carriage on Sundays. After 17 months of marriage, they welcomed a son, Robert, my grandfather.

My grandfather was born on June 29, 1914. Less than two months later, his father was MIA in Dinant, Belgium. His mother, my Andréa, chose to devote her life to her son and always refused to remarry. She was a very good-looking woman and her parents had helped her set up a prosperous bakery (as a woman she could not manage her late husband's business, he was a butcher), so she was rather well off and refused more than one proposal. She remained a widow for 55 years.

Comments

Andrea is perfectly OK for this prompt, Isabelle, She did have the name of Valentine!! Thanks for the story.

Answer 9

This would have to be my much married 16th great grandmother, Lady Constance (Stokes) Percy, Percy, FitzWarin, Riviere  (1330 - 1419)( https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Stokes-3673 ).

In addition to marrying 4 times, she "  Lyved a  naughty lyf  with the bisshoppe Wayvile and with others", and had a child with said "bisshoppe".

From her first husband she "acquired" the estate of Great Chalfield ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chalfield_Manor) . This triggered a series of lawsuits over who really owned the estate, lasting many decades after her death.  The current manor house (built mid 15th century,  to replace the one that stood in her time) has appeared in a number of films and TV programs, including "Wives and Daughters", "The Other Boleyn Girl", "Tess of the d'Urbervilles", "Poldark", and "Wolf Hall"

Answer 10

There are probably a lot of choices in my watchlist but this is one I saw personally for years.  You see, I lived for the first 6 years of my life with my grandparents, my great aunt, my aunt, and my parents because my Dad was a travelling salesman and my Mom was afraid to live on her own with a young child.  So my Romantic Valentne's Day couple are Viola Woerner  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Woerner-56   married to Joseph Hempen. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hempen-5.   

He was a tall man.  Over 6 foot.  She was tiny, much smaller than my 5' 7'.   They were married for around 50 years (I need to find their wedding date... I have a photo but no date).  Viola died in 1985 ending their lovely marriage.  I remember when her wedding ring fell into the garbage disposal.  My Grandfather went out and bought her a lovely new one that my aunt wears today.  They were rarely apart and I cherish every minute I spent with them.

Comments

That is so sweet, Laura.

Answer 11

My great Aunt Irma (Mattson-351) and Great Uncle Ray (codding-20). Today she might have called a cougar. She was 14 years his junior and they were both in the military. They married in Panama. They attempted to have children, but due to RH incompatibility none of them survived. They lived in Germany twice, Greece, Italy, and traveled everywhere. They evidently entertained on a grand scale as I inherited 14 place settings of formal china decorated ornately with gold. Irma and my grandma were very close, so I was shared when Ray was off doing his military rounds. It almost felt as if I had two Grandmas. Ray and Irma brought me back a doll from everywhere they visited and a charm for my bracelet. I am in awe when I revisit these momentos. Most people thought Ray would live many years past Irma, but sadly it was not to be. Ray was shot down near the North Vietnamese border. Irma never remarried and kept Ray alive in her stories. She lived over 20 years past his death. I doubt a day ever passed when he was not mentioned.

Answer 12

This answer was mistakenly posted as a comment -

What is associated with Valentines? Hearts! 

I was struggling to find an inspiration for this prompt.  The people with a February 14^th birthday or wedding anniversary were not going anywhere for me and no Valentine places or surnames.  Then I realized I have lots and lots of HARTS to choose from.

I always knew my grandfather Lucian Hart was descended from a Hart family that went back to the founding of Connecticut.  But my Hart ancestry turned out to be a bit more complicated than I had ever dreamed.

Louisa (Bly) Bentley, my 3^rd great-grandmother and mother of Harriet (Bentley) Arthur from “Census” had some surprises in her background.  Trying to find Louisa's maiden name I hit a brick wall for years.  Not too long ago, that mystery was finally solved.  In the process, I learned Louisa's mother's name was Ruth Hart.  Since I already knew a lineage book existed for Deacon Stephen Hart, it seemed a logical place to start looking for Ruth although I really didn't expect to find a link. 

My grandparents Lucian and Lottie (Wright) Hart were 8^th cousins once removed.  Not only that, my grandmother was descended from two, possibly three different children of Stephen Hart.  (I don't have all the links in Wikitree at this time).  My grandfather Lucian’s family came from yet another son of Stephen, but only the one.  So my grandmother Lottie, who I very much doubt knew there were any Harts in her family background, had more links than her husband who had the surname.

Looking at the widely differing routes their Hart families took to finally get to Michigan from Connecticut, I'm amazed my grandparents ended up in the same place at the same time to even meet each other!

Answer 13

I met my husband on February 15. So it is close to Valentine's Day.

We married on May 22nd - my birthday.

My husband said that was a good day because a local restaurant gave you a free birthday meal, so he thought he was getting away with not having to pay for an anniversary meal.  That is not the love story though.

We got engaged in April. We have a park that is very, very old and is called Conrad's Park.  There are two sides to the park, and on the east side of the park, there are two trees close together with a bench that is attached between the two trees. (I hope you are understanding what I am trying to describe, because it is really unique).

The day we were engaged, my husband drove me to the east side of the Island park.  He found the tree with the bench between it, asked me to get out of the car. Sat me down on the bench, and then proposed to me. He then told me a story about that being the bench where his father proposed to his mother. I thought that was so romantic.

We got back in the car and drove a little bit, and lo and behold, there was another two trees with a bench between it. He asked me to get out of the car again.  Once again he proposed to me.  I thought, how sweet. He wants to make sure he gets the right bench.

We got back in the car and drove again, and, you guessed it! Found another two trees with a bench. Once again I got out of the car and he proposed.  This happened two or three more times before we got out of the park.

Then we went to his parents house.  He was telling his parents that we had just gotten engaged. After the congratulations were over, he said to his dad "Pops, guess where I proposed to her?"  His dad "I don't know. Where, son?"  "On the same bench that you proposed to mom."  "No, son, you couldn't have."  My husband's jaw drops as he asked his dad why.

His dad tells him slowly, "Because they cut those two trees down a long time ago and put in a road".

My husband was so disappointed, but I was proud of him for trying to be romantic.

We laugh today when we tell the story.

Answer 14

My husband is my valentine we celebrate 40 years of marriage this year. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Wild-843

We have a branch of the family called Hart but as they are still living and several of them to young I have not added them yet to wiki tree.

There is an ancestor who died on the 13th February https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Elliott-10201 and a niece born on the 15th February but no actual event on the 14th February she is unlisted.