Who are Elizabeth Lighthall's parents?

I have started my newest brick wall, trying to prove who Elizabeth Lighthall’s parents really are.

Known facts, according to her Gravestone, she is the wife of John Sponable and died March 20, 1861 at the age of 85 years 8 months.

I used John Sponable’s father, Johannes Spanknable on my DAR application and this was accepted because someone else had supplied the necessary proof of this relationship. Plus, since my DAR application was on the Sponable side of the family, I didn't have to prove who Elizabeth’s parents were.

I have seen many on-line trees that seem to be leaning towards a George Lighthall born about 1740 and his wife Margaret Cunningham.

In the book, “Early Families of Herkimer County New York; Descendants of the Burnetsfield Palatines” by William V.H. Barker, on page 166 has a little of this George’s ancestry.  It list 5 of his children but no more. My Elizabeth was born abt 1775-1776 and the book lists his first child as Maria born 1777. This doesn’t rule out Elizabeth but it doesn't confirm it either.

Next I turned to the Online Resource, Schenectady County, New York: Its History to the Close of the Nineteenth Century: Chapter XXIV: Genealogy of the Lighthall Family located at http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/resources/yates/gen-lighthall.html. This site is based on the book by the same name by Austin A Yates, pages 278-279. However, it doesn't mention George only his father and siblings from the first book I used.

Next I found the book “Compendium of Early Mohawk Valley Families, Volume 1” by Maryly B Penrose at my local genealogical society.  On pages 485 & 486 starts the Lighthall family and it seems to be centered on George’s family and does list him briefly as serving in the Tryon County Militia. Plus it has the birth of George & Margretha’s child Maria born 6/21/1777 which matches the first book. Also, I found a little paragraph describing George’s service in the Revolutionary war and list his birth as 1747.

Finally I turned to Ancestry.com to see what records I could find on the Lighthall clan and I am currently using the U.S. Dutch Reformed Church Records from Selected States, 1660-1926. From the books and this baptism and marriage records I am constructing a tree on George’s Family. I didn't want to put them into my main family tree since I haven’t found the connection, but I also wanted to go through the records and see what I could find.  I am hoping that once I find the connection I can merge this tree into my main family tree. I have found that many of the on-line trees seem to have his brother Nicholas listed as his father.  I haven’t come across a record showing that Nicholas had a son name George yet.

I left a post on Ancestry’s message board asking for how people came up George as Elizabeth’s father. I haven’t tracked down a death certificate yet or even marriage record for my Elizabeth. I have read that the records from 1775-1778 are missing and this might be why I can’t find what I am looking for. Finally, I have had my AncestryDNA done and perhaps I will match someone via our trees and see if I match any of George’s other children or perhaps through one of his known brothers.

If I find out anything more, I will make sure to post it here!

Sharing some of my Memories

In response to Randy Seaver’s Blog “Genea-Musings.com” Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (15 Feb 2014), he asked six questions about our own life story. So here are my answers…

a)     What was your first illness as a child? I remember having chicken pox at about age 4. I know I hadn’t started school and I believe my older sister who was in Kindergarten brought home the lovely germ. She missed school one week and then the following week, myself, one sister and one brother had the pox together. I remember playing with my older brother and it was actually fun having him home for the week. My brother is five years older and this was a great bonding time for us.

b)  What was the first funeral you attended? I remember attending my paternal grandfather’s funeral. Again, I was about four or five years old. I remember I had to good, because my Dad was so sad. This is the only memory I have of my grandfather. I remember sitting at the funeral and seeing the casket in front of me, but I don’t remember anything else.

c)  What was your favorite book as a child? This will sound bad, but I don’t remember reading as a small child. I also know I was a poor reader until 6^th grade and a friend, who had teachers as parents, introduced me to the Nancy Drew Mystery Series. I started reading those books and it would take me 3 plus weeks to read the first books. By the time I got to the end of the series, I could read a book in 3 hours. This friend opened the world to me and this is when I started to read more. I don’t think I would have turned to genealogy if I haven’t become a better reader. I am so blessed to have children who also love to read.

d)  What was your favorite class in elementary school? It would have to be 5^th grade. I remember being the poorest at Math. In 3^rd grade, my older brother would do my homework because he loved to show off how easy it was for him to do. I remember speeding through 4^th grade math but by the time I was in 5^th grade, I tested poor and was in a special group in the worst Math class. I didn’t know my times table. However, by the end of the year, I was in the highest Math class and I was in the special group for the best students in Math. I was lucky that the school decided to try something new that year and pull all the students and arrange us by our skills. I have excellent Math skills now.

e)  What was your favorite toy as a child? I had a Baby Tender Love that I adored. I named her Marie after my middle name. The next year I received a Talking Baby Tender Love and I named her Brenda after my niece that was born that year. I saved those dolls for when I had children of my own. I gave them to my oldest daughter who proceeded to write all over my precious little babies. I was crushed. She pretty much destroyed my dolls and I end up having to throw them away.

f)  Did you learn how to swim, and where did you learn? In fourth grade, the YMCA offered a free week of swimming lessons. I learned the basics but when they wanted us to jump off the high dive, I did go back for the last day of lessons. My mother was a good swimmer and then when we went camping, she taught me how to float and how to swim better.