Welcome to our second family history blog!

A great big Thank You! to our grandson for setting this up for me. The first Life In The Past Lane had its formatting scrambled, and I couldn't fix it. (I can drive a car, but I can't repair the engine.) I'll try to cover a variety of topics, and tell about some of the people I've spent 50 years collecting. I know more about each of these people, so let me know if there is anything I can answer for you about our family through the years.

The profile photo on this blog is my Scarborough High School senior portrait, taken in Portland, ME in 1959, soon after I turned 17. In those days photos were hand-colored, and whoever did mine was pretty heavy-handed. I never wore so much, or such dark, makeup in my life. I chose another pose for my Class of 1960 yearbook.

The past isn't very far away.
History is not just found in books about the past, it is the days and years of our ancestors' lives. They lived through it all, good times and bad, just as we are doing today. They did the best they could, with what they had, for the times in which they lived. 

Christmas at Oak Hill, Scarboro, ME 1948 or '49

 Me with both grandmothers. Dad's mother, Floss (McDougal) Nickerson, born in 1886 is on my right. Mom's mother, Millie (Hall) Trout, born in 1889, is at the left, holding my Christmas doll.

 
 

Alexander D. McDougal, 1861

 




 My Grandmother Florence "Floss" Nickerson lived until my daughter L was 4 years old, in 1965. 

 Flossie's father was a Union soldier during all 4 years of the Civil War, He saw President Abraham Lincoln, and was in Appomattox, VA when the war ended with Robert E. Lee surrendering to Ulysses S. Grant.

Lydia Ellen "Ella" Apgar Hall, 1879

 My Grandmother Millie Trout lived until I was 16.

Millie's mother, Lydia Ellen "Ella" (Apgar) Hall, shown here in her wedding photo, saw President Lincoln give a campaign speech from a train as he came through New Jersey. Lydia's Grandfather Apgar was born before the American Revolution.

High Bridge, NJ farm, about 1891

Grandmother Millie Trout was raised on her grandparents' farm. She told me many bedtime stories of her childhood on "the dear old farm", as she always called it. Adaline standing on porch, Lydia seated with twin daughters, son Percy on steps.

 Harrison Apgar, the kind, loving grandfather in Millie's stories, who was so familiar to me, was born in NJ in 1820.

Note to our oldest granddaughter, who has lived in Germany: Harrison's great-grandfather Friedrich "Fritz" Epgert  was born in 1708 in a small village in the Westerwald, a rolling wooded area east of the Rhine River, now in the modern German state of Rheinland-Pfalz.

Emily Adaline (Lance) Apgar

  


Millie's Grandmother Adaline (Lance) Apgar also grew up on a NJ farm, and spoke German as her first language.

Note to our oldest granddaughter: Many of your German ancestors came over in the 1700s, lived in German farming communities in NJ, and had German-speaking schools and churches for generations (some were Amish or Mennonites). Adaline's immigrant great-grandfather, Hans Peter Lantz, was born in Windsberg, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, and married in Nünschweiler, Südwestpfalz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

Irving Frost, Maine lumberjack

Grampy's Grandfather Irving Frost (1875-1968) lived in Maine until 1968, after both of our daughters were born. Three of his grandparents were born before Maine became a state in 1820.

 So you see, our ancestors are people who lived in the middle of history as it was happening.

Next time we'll talk about immigrants from other countries in our family. Here's a pop quiz for you:

1.) Two of Grampy's great-grandparents were born in another country. Which country? One lived until Grampy was 4, the other until he was 18.

2.) Three of my father's (George G. Nickerson) grandparents were born in another country. Which country? (Extra credit for naming the Province.)

3.) Most of my mother's (Dorothy (Trout) Nickerson) New Jersey ancestry was from 3 countries. Which countries?

4.) 13 of  our sons-in-laws' great-great-grandparents were born in other countries. Can you name the 4 countries? Hint: 3 of the countries are the same for both.

Answers in the next post.