Genealogical Rabbitholes

I really ought to enter a lot more of my genealogy into WikiTree. I have entered four people in there, including myself. No matter — I can find ancestors of mine who are already entered into WikiTree, and learn from there.

Here is the WikiTree entry for Hosea Curtice (b. 1739), about whom I wrote a couple days ago. (I come from a long line of Hosea Curtices, so I have to specify the birth date). He was married to Susannah Kellogg, whose genealogy leads in interesting directions. 1) She is part of the Kellogg family, which in another century brings us to Kellogg’s Corn Flakes and in this past century to the Kellogg Foundation. 2) You can trace a connection from Susannah Kellogg to Emily Dickinson. I am quite proud to have Emily Dickinson as my cousin, as the title of our blog would imply. 3) Susannah’s great-grandfather Samuel Kellogg (b. 1669) was kidnapped by Indians in 1677 and hauled off to Canada, eventually to be ransomed out of captivity. His mother Sarah Day was killed in the raid where Samuel was captured. Sarah Day is also the common ancestor I share with Emily Dickinson, through an earlier marriage of Sarah’s.

This raid happened in the aftermath of King Philip’s War, and there is an account of it on the website for the wonderful book Our Beloved Kin: Remapping A New History of King Philip’s War, by Lisa Brooks. I need to reread her book: it’s an illuminating journey into 17th century Indigenous geographies.