Life is a Circus

When I first started researching my own family history I was excited to learn I had a “Mayflower” connection. This was early on, way before I learned that everyone doing genealogy was certain they had a “Mayflower” and/or “Native American” connection. So I was excited and I began to dig into what family records I could find. This led me to my 3^rd great-grandparents Edwin B Allen and Mathilda Tinkham. Poor Edwin seems to have sprouted out of thin air, to date no records have been found to link him with his supposed brothers and sisters or any parents, aunts, uncles or grandparents. I’ll write more about Edwin B Allen in the near future. Mathilda Tinkham though, brought me a wealth of information by bringing me to her parents, Jacob Tinkham and Rebecca Nutting.

Ah, Jacob and Rebecca, nomads who ranged across the Midwest. They were both born in Vermont, they married in 1820 and had four children in Vermont and then moved to New York State where they had three more children. Then, sometime between 1843 and 1850 they packed up and moved to Wisconsin. To Baraboo, Wisconsin. Baraboo didn’t ring a bell with me. I didn’t know much about Wisconsin, just that most of my family lines passed through there at one time or another on their way West. As I researched Jacob and Rebecca Tinkham I noticed that although they always went back to Baraboo, they seemed to spend a great deal of time traveling in a circle. Going from one place to the next, visiting children and other relatives throughout Wisconsin and Iowa, back and forth it seemed.

Why did they always seem to be on the move? Maybe he’s a tinker or a traveling salesman, I thought. So, I did just a little research on the area and learned that Baraboo was the winter home of the Ringling Brothers Circus. Laugh out loud! Well, this might even be better than a “Mayflower” connection. However, I’ve looked and I’ve researched and I just can’t find a connection to the circus. I did however find my “Mayflower” connection. Through Jacob Tinkham, I have proven seven Mayflower lines from Allerton, Brown, Cooke, Howland, Tilley, and Warren. Jacob has given me a plethora of history and events to research that will take me a lifetime to learn. Even better than a circus, I now have connections to almost every major event in the Colonies.

Alford Abner Sisley

Have you ever thought about being that person who invents a catch-phrase? One of those phrases you hear people say like, “later, dude” or “Cowabunga”? Or maybe when you were younger you wanted to start a new dance craze? Well, my mother and grandmother have the great distinction of inventing Alford Abner Sisley out of thin air.

Alford Abner Sisley was born on February 11, 1848 in Meadville, Crawford County, Pennsylvania to Lewis William Sisley and Catherine Betts and died on February 11, 1948 in Clinton, Rock County, Wisconsin. Look him up, he’s all over the internet, on family trees dotted throughout the United States. Like Forrest Gump, Alford probably fought in wars and met presidents. After all, he lived to be 100 years old. And like Forrest Gump, Alford is a purely fictional character. Made up out of thin air.

Alford Abner Sisley
Birth 11 Feb 1848 in Meadville, Crawford, Pennsylvania, United States
Death 11 Feb 1948 in Clinton, Rock, Wisconsin, United States
Media Gallery
No photos, stories, audio or video have been added yet.
Timeline
• Birth
1848 11 Feb
Meadville, Crawford, Pennsylvania, United States
• Death
1948 11 Feb Age: 100
Clinton, Rock, Wisconsin, United States

View Details
Family Members
Parents
• Lewis William Sisley
1803 – 1880

Catherine Betts
1807 – 1880

Show siblings
Spouse & Children
• No Spouse

You might ask yourself why my mother and grandmother would have done such a thing. The answer is simple. It was the early 1950’s and they were transcribing a family Bible. The actual reading should have been Absalom Sisley but they had difficulty making out the faded ink and read it as Alford. From that moment on, Alford took on a life of his own. He made it onto family trees in the 1950’s and 1960’s and then came the invention of the internet. Alford loved the internet! Alford has soared through the internet with the ease of no one double-checking their facts. He soared through the internet with the ease of absolutely not one piece of documentation supporting his birth, life, or death.

Since his creation Alford has spread his wings so wide that he can never be recalled. Sending emails and adding notes to trees is useless because he just sprouts up on a new tree. Poor Alford, a man without a document or a burial place. Sentenced to roam across the World Wide Web forever. When you come across poor Alford, do him a favor, don’t add him to your tree. Alford has had a miserable life and deserves to pass away into the thin air from whence he came.