John Faris (1766 - 1826)

I had originally intended this to be one blog post, but have decided to combine two "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" blog prompts into one post about one ancestor.  The prompts I am combining are Week 18: "Where There's a Will" and Week 21: "Tombstone."

John Faris (born 1766) and his wife Eleanor Belt (born 1772) were early settlers of Fleming County, Kentucky.  At this time, they are both brick wall ancestors.  I'm able to trace back to these ancestors, but can't go back any further.  The documentation I have about them is very scarce also.  My wife's family has a family tree that I received years ago and the only information that I have for them is their names, their birth dates, marriage date, and that they were parents of Joseph Belt Faris, born July 24, 1800, in Fleming County, Kentucky.

Unfortunately, I did not do a good job of asking questions when I received the chart.  I do know that it was made by Ada "Sweet" Danbridge Ball, but I do not know when it was created. It was likely made to support her Daughters of the American Revolution application.  I also do not know where Sweet got her information from nor do I have any supporting documentation to verify the information in it.

Cropped image of the undated documented family tree by Ada D. Ball in the personal collection of ©Edward R. Olsen 2020. 

Edward Louis Gillen - North Merrick Fire Department

My family has a long history with Fire Departments.  Here is just one of those stories...

The IFFD ribbons are linked to colours symbolic of the main elements firefighters work with – red for fire and blue for water. 

International Firefighters Day is being observed today, Monday, May 4, 2020. It is a day in which current and past firefighters can be thanked for their contributions.  So I would like to recognize the service of our one of our family's first firefighters: Edward L. Gillen.