I’m not sure why, but this week has flown by and it is time for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun with Randy Seaver.

This week’s challenge is a bit different:

1) What year was one of your 2nd great-grandparents born?  Divide this number by 70 and round the number off to a whole number. This is your “roulette number.”

2) Use your pedigree charts or your family tree genealogy software program to find the person with that number in your ancestral name list (some people call it an “ahnentafel” – your software will create this – use the “Ahnentafel List” option, or similar). Who is that person, and what are his/her vital information?

3) Tell us three facts about that person in your ancestral name list with the “roulette number.”

I chose William Coleman, born 1834, as my roulette base. 1834 divided by 70 equals 26.2, so rounded off that meant ancestor #26 on my ahnentafel table won this week’s roulette spin.

Ancestor 26 is another of my 2X great grandparents, Charles Augustus Stewart (1 July 1822-24 November 1894) who married Elida Ann Hicks (1833-1914), soon after they filed their intentions on 6 July 1850.

It’s ironic that Charles turned out to be the subject this week, as I have been busy updating my Word document on the descendants of Loyalist Robert and Catherine (MNU) Carlisle this past week.

What does that have to do with anything you ask?

Fact #1 – Charles Stewart married his first cousin, Elida Ann Hicks. He was the son of John Stewart and Catherine Carlisle, while Elida was the daughter of Israel Hicks and Abigail Carlisle. Catherine and Abigail were daughters of Robert and Catherine Carlisle.

Fact #2 – Charles Stewart has no death certificate, but I know the details of his last day. His granddaughter, Bertha Stuart Eldridge, was there helping Elida that day and witnessed his death. I met Bertha in the 1980s. She was just a little girl when Charles died, but the event made a huge impression on her young mind. She said Charles had been out working the farm and returned to the house in the early afternoon, which was very unusual, not feeling well. He sat down in a chair and rested for a short time, but suddenly died. She wasn’t sure if it was a heart attack or a stroke, but he died before Elida could get any help.

Fact #3 – Charles Stewart changed the spelling of his surname to Stuart to please Elida. Bertha said her grandmother thought it was more French, and I guess,  more elegant than a Scottish surname.

Thank you, Randy. This was fun, but now I need to get back to updating the Carlisle family information. I’ve finally been able to crack through some brick walls in this family!