Three Arches

Three Arches, in present-day Falls Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, was the home of John and Mary Loftus Sotcher. John Sotcher was a barber by trade and probably came with William Penn to America in 1699, although some sources say he arrived as early as 1687. He became the steward of Penn's estate, Pennsbury Manor, where he married Mary Loftus (or Lofty), a maid at Pennsbury, in 1701. She had come from Bristol, England, to Pennsylvania in 1694, on a certificate prepared by Thomas Callowhill, father of Penn's second wife, Hannah. William Penn and his wife witnessed the marriage and marriage certificate of the Sotchers. The Penns gave the couple a pewter platter which is the only item at the now-reconstructed Pennsbury that was in the original house. Letitia Penn, William Penn's daughter, also gave the bride a chest of drawers. The Sotchers continued working at Pennsbury until 1712, when they moved to Three Arches. There, John became a colonial legislator and founded a ferry service to Burlington City, New Jersey.

More

U.S.S. Essex

In December 1899 at age 16, Alexander Arthur Martin joined the United States Navy and left his home in Cleveland, Ohio. During the next five years he served on several ships, including the U.S.S. Constellation when it was a stationary training ship in Newport, Rhode Island. Alex is listed in the 1900 census along with the rest of the crew of the frigate U.S.S. Essex, on their training cruise to Europe. After that cruise, Alex traveled down the coast of South America and then spent the remainder of his service in the Far East, where he saw action in the Boxer Rebellion and the Philippine Insurrection. In 1955 he wrote his memoirs of his time in the Navy. Follow this link to read the memoir, Hedunit: The Memoirs of an Ex-Blue Jacket.

More

Salt Creek Baptist Church

Salt Creek Baptist Church is located in Salt Creek Township, Muskingum County, Ohio. It was organized in 1811 by Elder Henry Pringle and Elder Daniel Horton, and the first church was of hewn logs with two stories and a gallery. Members of the family of Samuel and Hannah Baldwin attended the church. Hannah was baptized there in 1816; daughter Lydia was baptized in 1813 and daughter Charlotte in 1831. Several other extended family members were also part of the church. There is a cemetery, now poorly maintained, across the road from the church where Samuel and Hannah Baldwin are buried, along with their children, Charlotte, James, and Nancy.

More

Rockforest House

Rockforest became the seat of the Cotter family from the mid-18th Century. In 1786, it was described as "a most beautiful improvement, highly wooded, situated on the Blackwater, the seat of Sir James Laurence Cotter". The main section of the house and wings, built by Sir James, dates to the early Georgian period (his grandfather was granted the lands in 1652). This design incorporated an earlier house built during the reign of Elizabeth I by the original owners, the Roches, Barons of Fermoy. In 1837, in A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, Samuel Lewis described Rockforest thus: "Rockforest the handsome mansion of Sir J. L. Cotter, Bart., is beautifully situated on a rising ground between the Black-water and the Lavally mountain, in an extensive and richly wooded demesne, bounded on the north by the river, which sweeps boldy under the rock of Carrig, the woods and castellated tower on the summit of the rock forming a most picturesque and interesting scene." It was here that a very rare form of quartz, Cotterite, was discovered by Grace Elizabeth Cotter (1830–79), first-born daughter of Reverend George Edward Cotter (third son of the second Baronet of Rockforest). Rockforest was eventually sold in 1916 by the fifth Baronet. The auction sales brochure called it to the attention of "Noblemen, Hunting Men, Capitalists and Others" and described the house thus: "this stately Mansion, which is in perfect structural and decorative repair, occupies a commanding situation on an eminence richly timbered, and affords delightful and varied views in the midst of charming scenery on the River Blackwater". It continues, " ... justly enjoying the reputation as the most Desirable and Beautiful Residential Property on the fertile banks of the Irish Rhine".

More

St-Jean-Baptiste

Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Nemours is a church in Nemours, Arrondissement of Fontainebleau, Île-de-France. It was founded by Gautier the First of Nemours in 1170 to receive a relic of Saint John the Baptist. It is composed of a 12th century tower-porch and a nave raised in the 17th century. It now houses the neo-Gothic high altar dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, a Piétà sculpture made in 1869 by Sanson (local artist of the 19th century), an organ dating from 1653, and the bell "Philippe", dedicated in 1672 to Philippe, Duc d'Orléans, brother of Louis the XIV, who became Duke of Nemours. The church was classified as a historical monument in 1977. Several generations of the Martin family attended this church, where family baptisms, marriages, and burials took place.

More

Butter's Loan Cottage

Butter's Loan Cottage is located in Dundee, Scotland. It was originally part of the Camperdown estate, home of Admiral Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan, a Royal Navy officer best known for defeating the Batavian Navy at the 1797 Battle of Camperdown, one of the most significant naval battles in the French Revolutionary Wars. By the time our ancestors, Alexander and Catherine Edward Duff (pictured with two of their children), lived in the cottage, it was the estate of the Earls of Camperdown, descendants of Adam Duncan. Alexander was an estate worker, serving as a "woodworkman" and carriage driver. The cottage is still standing and still being used as a home, having been modernized and slightly enlarged.

More