John Priest has been chosen for Immigrant Story Number 5. In choosing this ancestor I really went down a rabbit hole. I started pursuing the wrong John Priest – as follows.

There has been some confusion over an early settler named John Priest. For one, a John Priest who was born around 1650 but it is not certain who his parents were.

There was an immigrant named James Priest who emigrated from England in 1637. He married Elizabeth _________. They had at least 7 children but none named John. James recorded his will in 1676.

Another speculation is that his father was John Priest who lived in Charlestown, married Sarah, had at least 7 children, and sold land on the Reading border in 1680.

The first definite thing we know about John Priest is that he was impressed into military service from Woburn during King Phillip’s War, and probably took part in the Great Swamp Fight in December 1675. He married Rachel Garfield of Watertown in 1678. They had 3 children born in Woburn and then the family moved to Lancaster in 1688.

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Now I am going to write about the John Priest Sr in my family tree – My Immigrant No. 5

John Priest Sr. Immigrant No. 5 in my family tree was born in England in 1615. He was my 9th Great Grandfather. He married Sarah Allerton “The Niece” in 1640.. Sarah Allerton was born in 1619. Her parents were Isaac Allerton and Fear Brewster – the Allerton family came to America on the Mayflower in 1620.

….to be continued

I was very sad to learn of the passing of one of my favorite authors, Larry McMurtry. There was a review this author in this week’s issue of The Economist magazine. My husband is txeonewho reads this magazine and he called my attention to the obituary. Not only was I sad to learn of Larry McMurtry’s death, but I was disappointed and annoyed with the obituary itself. I think the obituary did not do justice to Larry McMurtry at all. I will mourn him in my own way. I have read most of his books, if not all, and enjoyed them so much. He was a wonderful author. And he was a book collector and bookseller as well – a man after my own heart. And we were the same age – 84.

I am spinning my wheels trying to find a certain photo – and so far I have randomly found the following..

April 7, 1912 – birth of my mother in Minneapolis Minnesota. She lived a full life, passing in the year 2000 at age 88.

She lived in Minneapolis Minnesota, Omaha Nebraska, Winchester Massachusetts, Belmont Massachusetts, Kathmandu Nepal, and Maui Hawaii.

She was a college graduate, graduating from Connecticut College for Women in 1932, a Physics Major. She earned a Masters Degree later in life. A Master’s Degree in Library Science from Simmons College in Boston in 1962. It was a proud moment for me to see her walk across the stage to receive her degree.

She served in the U.S. Peace Corps 1964-66. She was in one of the first Peace Corps groups to go to Nepal. The training program for her group was held at the University of Oregon in Eugene. At that time I was studying at UC Berkeley and I was able to visit her in Eugene and meet the other trainees. And the following year I was able to visit her in Kathmandu. Adventure for her – adventure for me.

Following the Peace Corps years she went to Maui to work on a book mobile in Wailuku. She had a house built there and remained for the rest of her life. Sunshine, golf, bridge, and service to her community. A life well lived.

From our apartment window here on the 3rd floor of Building D I look down and see an offending piece of trash. Why doesn’t someone pick up this offending piece of paper? I have wondered for a year. I have called down to the occasional workman or gardener. At last the security gate was open and I took the matter in hand. If no one else would pick up that piece of litter I would. Well, the joke’s on me – that offending blue object – piece of paper, sweet wrapper or whatever – is actually a ceramic flower – and is very pretty indeed. There must be some sort of moral to this story. Beauty in the eyes of the beholder………..or some such phrase.

I have a photo of said blue item but the complexities of “photos” in my computer and the cloud defeat me at present. Nevertheless I can just look out the window to check that the blue ceramic flower is still in place.