Check out my Omeka Site!!

I’ve had this site for some years but never promoted it. Omeka is a free, open-source platform that allows you to display collections as well as stories that explain the collections. I use it in the opposite manner – I tell stories and add documents or videos to support the stories. If you visit ‘We Never Left’, you can download the photos and documents that … Continue reading Check out my Omeka Site!!

The Root Doctress

Susanna Toney was born around 1789 in Barre, MA to Abraham Toney and his wife Mary Harry. She was commonly known as Susan. Barre was and is a small rural farming community just northwest of Worcester. Her mother, Mary Harry, was part of the Narragansett tribe and her father, Abraham, was a Black man born free in Upton, MA to free parents. Upton was another … Continue reading The Root Doctress

Muriel and Alfred Shepard

When I think about my dad, it’s not my biological father that comes to mind. The man I call ‘Daddy’, Alfred Bruce Shepard, was my step-father. He raised me and loved me as if I were his biological child and I am forever grateful for it. When I discovered I was pregnant with my first child, I called him first – weeks before I told … Continue reading Muriel and Alfred Shepard

The Family Scott

The above picture is a plaque that now hangs in the second floor of City Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts. The ceremony yesterday was charming and long overdue. As it states on the plaque, Charles E. Scott served as a City Councilor from 1918 to his death on 11 October 1938. Elected not by the tiny people of color population but instead by white, mostly European … Continue reading The Family Scott

Surname Saturday – CURLESS/CURLISS/CORLISS

This is the first in a series of blog posts dedicated to my female ancestors and their maiden names. Mary Ann Curless Vickers was my 4th great-grandmother. She lived to be more than 100 years old. Born in Smithfield, Rhode Island on 16 August 1797, she also resided in nearby Thompson, CT and Oxford, MA. Her parents were Nancy (Annie) Pollock and Christopher Curless. Christopher … Continue reading Surname Saturday – CURLESS/CURLISS/CORLISS