Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Where Was My Family in 1866?

Randy Seaver over at GeneaMusings is the place to be for genealogy fun on a Saturday night.  This week the challenge is to locate where all of your family was living in 1866.

I haven't played along since well . . .since forever!  This looked like fun so here is where my family was in 1866.

2nd great grandparents Gerhard Befort & Anna Maria Stecklein were living in Obermonjou, Samara Volga, Russia.

2nd great grandparents Johann Adam Ernst & Anna Maria Kemper were living in Marienthal, Saratov Volga, Russia.

2nd great grandfather John Fred Borgstadter was living in Hitzhausen, Germany.

2nd great grandmother Mary Elizabeth Hobrock was living with her parents (my 3rd great grandparents), Henry Hobrock & Mary Erk and her 2 sets of grandparents (my 2 sets of 4th great grandparents) Christian Hobrock & Gertrude Erk and Valentine Thron & Margaret Beier all in Beardsville, Cass County, Illinois.

2nd great grandfather Louis Ernst Besson was living in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany.

2nd great grandmother Sarah Jane Solomon was living with her parents (my 3rd great grandparents) James Arthur Solomon & Angeline Fulton in Moultrie County, Illinois.  Her grandfather (my 4th great grandfather) Peter Solomon was living in Clark County, Illinois.

2nd great grandfather Joseph Payne Skillman was living with his parents (my 3rd great grandparents) Josiah Payne Skillman & Lavinia Thomas Wilson in Pleasant Hill, Cass County, Missouri.

2nd great grandmother Sallie Davis Wilson was living with her parents (my 3rd great grandparents) Berry Wilson & Catherine Elizabeth Rees and her grandmother (my 4th great grandmother) Mariah Fristoe Rees in Georgetown, Pettis County, Missouri.

2nd great grandfather Earnest Francis Sheern was living with his parents (my 3rd great grandparents) James Sheern & Ann Emily Leseure in Allamakee County, Iowa.

2nd great grandmother Jennie Delaney was living with her parents (my 3rd great grandparents) Daniel Derondo Delaney & Ellen Collins in Waterville, Marshall County, Kansas.

2nd great grandfather George Wesley Harris was living his parents (my 3rd great grandparents) H.A.T. Harris & M.A.F. Bess, his grandparents (my 4th great grandparents) Peter Bess & Sarah Beam, his great grandfather (my 5th great grandfather) Boston Bess and his great grandmother (my 5th great grandmother) Mary Ann Wacaster Beam all in Lincoln County, North Carolina.  His grandmother (my 4th great grandmother) Mildred Naylor Harris was living in Surry County, North Carolina.

2nd great grandmother Minda Ellen Wallace was living with her parents (my 3rd great grandparents) Samuel Wallace & Nancy Brown in Yadkin County, North Carolina.

2nd great grandfather William Campbell Berry II was living with his parents (my 3rd great grandparents) William Campbell Berry I & Mary Ping and his grandparents (my 4th great grandparents)  Bolen Green Ping & Sophia Barnes all in Des Moines County, Iowa.  His grandfather (my 4th great grandfather) John P. Berry was living in Mahaska County, Iowa.

2nd great grandmother Laura Cordelia Robinson was living with her parents (my 3rd great grandparents) David Robinson & Margaret Bowman in Des Moines County, Iowa. 

Communicating With Hand Fans

Besides being an important woman's fashion accessories, hand fans help to regulated air temperature, concealed flirtatious blushes, and protected a woman from insects and nature’s harsh elements.

They were also a most important courtship tool.  A common fan language, known to both women and men, developed from what seemed  to be innocent fan fluttering. Fan movements became a way to convey messages about emotions and love based on well-known etiquette rules. 

The more common fan movements and their meanings included:

• A rested fan on the right check meant “yes” and on the left “no.”
• Placing the handle of a fan to a woman’s lips or pressing a half-opened fan to the lips indicated a kiss was allowed.
• A twirled fan in the right hand meant “I love another” but twirled in the left indicated “we are being watched.”
• Shutting a fan fully and opening it slowly was a promise of marriage. 
• A shut fan held to a woman’s heart meant the man had won her heart.
• Fanning quickly meant a woman was engaged or in love.
• Fanning slowly meant a woman was married

I am guessing that this woman and her fans had no problem communicating her intentions.

The kind of fan a woman owned was based on her social status ranging from one bought by street vendors or given away as advertisments

to those that were almost works of art - hand painted, mother of pearl, gold, precious jewels.

To educate yourself on the history of fans here are a few items to help you out:

The 18th Century: The Language of the Fans

Download for free a 311 page book "History of the Fan" by George Woolliscroft Rhead.

Article by Louisa Parr - "The Fan"
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 79, June to November 1889, pp 399-409

"The Fan Book" by Martin Percival

The History of the Fan

The Hand Fan Museum located in Healdsburg, Sonoma County, California


All photos courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.