Teresa McRae
NellieAuthor
Well it seems I’ve been away for over a week. Gone but not forgotten. I have been working on some genealogy leads on the father of my oldest maternal ancestor and I may have got a good lead from a genealogy group This makes me very happy as I just received my mtDNA and I have no where to go with this ancestor Her name is Catherine Walker and she was born in 1835 in Nova Scotia. She is my great great grandmother. She married James Edward Ward in 1859 and had 11 children with him, the youngest of which is my great grandmother Nellie. I never met Nellie. She died a few years after I was born. From the little information I have, she had a hard life. She had one other child besides my grandmother Arlene, a son who lived to be about 10. I know nothing of him. His name was Herbert Jr. I wonder about him sometimes and how his death must have affected Nellie. It is a terrible thing to lose a child. I don’t have personal experience, but of course I know people that have lost children, including my adopted mother who lost 2 babies after carrying them full term.
I know losing babies or children was much more common in years past but no less devastating, I’m sure. So, Nellie had her trials, most of which I don’t know. I wish I had the chance to meet her. she lived in Mass. for some years and then in Florida where she died. My father remembered a little about her, none of it too favorable but he was probably biased. I think she could have told quite the interesting tale of her life. 
What memories did she pass down to me, I wonder. Her marriage registration.
