Clifford Family Revelations & Morse Breakthroughs

Earlier this month I was fortunate to have my dad come and visit.  I don't get to see him very often so I appreciated the fact that he drove the 6 hours to see me.  It was great catching up and getting the chance to see photos that he'd gotten from my Uncle Tom's apartment.  We sat down and went through them and I heard last names that I'd never heard before and saw relatives that I'd never seen.  It was pretty cool and exciting for me as I considered all the new information I had to process now.  I borrowed the photographs overnight and scanned like a mad woman throughout the day on Saturday.  I still need to wrap up organizing it all, but I was able to scan all that I wanted so that my dad could take the photos back with him and send them on to relatives in California. 

Dad shared a number of interesting stories while we were going through the photos.  In one story, a relative was reprimanded for leaving his post to rescue a tail gunner who was clinging to the tail section of his plane. I’m sure that guy was pretty glad that he was rescued. Another relative served her country and worked as a stenographer at the Nuremberg trials.

In other genealogical news, I've finally found my Morse family's census records from Maine.  I'm planning a vacation up in Maine and thought it would be interesting to do some family research while I'm up there.  For the past two years I had been trying to find what I thought was my ancestor by the name of Frederick Morse.  I then realized that perhaps that wasn’t really his name.  So I searched for the wife and discovered that his name was actually William G. Morse (ca. 1834-1880).  He and his wife Anna Stevens (ca. 1834-1924) lived in Thomaston, Maine in 1860.  In about 1865 they moved to Chicago and eventually settled in Muskegon, Michigan.  William worked as a mariner and his sons followed in his footsteps. 

I emailed the Thomaston Historical Society and was thrilled to get a detailed response with information regarding when my ancestors were engaged and married.  More details on their parents’ names were included and so much more.  I’m thrilled that I’ll be going there and may actually see a gravestone and will see the town where they lived.