ABOUT

ROOT + BRANCH

".... so that you could live...." - Dr. Maya Angelou

Welcome to ROOT + BRANCH Ancestry!

MY STORY

Jordan S. Saalfrank

Self-nominated Family Ancestry Expert

jordansaalfrank@me.com

Interest in my roots came from when I was very young and a teacher in elementary school required us to do a family history project. In the late 80's my mother reached out to her granduncle: Edward Fletcher Barrows (1900-1991), whom she knew to be the family genealogist, and Fletcher snail-mailed the most glorious genealogical chart.

The glimpse I had of that chart showed me that I had lineage to John Alden (my 9th great-grandfather), who came over on the Mayflower, settled in the colonies and later married Pricilla Alden. It was mind-altering to be able to go to the library and check out a book on the Mayflower and SEE my family's name: John Alden, in that book.

I found I was also distantly related to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR is my 5th cousin, 5x removed. To a young person, I loved the idea of being related to the 32nd President of the United States! Who else was out there!?

As I got older, the novelty of the famous relatives faded and the curiosity to tell the ordinary story bubbled to the top. I wanted to get to know my every day ancestors -- the ones who went to school, had chores, grew up into a career, started businesses, had heart break and overcame disappointments .... those who sometimes struggled and learned lessons in harder times. The ordinary ancestors became the extraordinary ones because they are the ones who inevitably gave me life and opportunity because of their every day efforts.

Grandma Jane was my first best friend. In her presence, I always was made to feel important, unconditionally loved and seen. She would repeat, every time we were together:

"Both of our names began with "J", we were both born in February,

we are both left-handed, and we both love to draw...'

and as it so happened, later, I became a social worker -- just. like. her.

Jane Barrows (Leining) Love was the youngest of two daughters to the Reverend Fredrick Charles Leining and Harriet Elisabeth (Barrows) Leining. Between 1925 & 1926, at the age of four, Jane, her sister Barbara Mary Leining and their parents moved from where Jane was born, Providence, Rhode Island, to Syracuse, NY where the girls grew up. Grandma Jane attended Syracuse High School and went on for her college degree, following in her father's footsteps, at St. Lawrence college.

I had heard a little bit about her childhood but it really didn't register until 2001 when she, my mother Nancy, my Aunt Gretchen, my husband Geof and I piled in a motor home and took off from Indiana out to the east coast to see Vermont and Maine, all areas where my grandmother and her family had lived throughout the years.

Brattleboro Vermont was a place I'd heard of often. Jane's grandfather, E.B. Barrows owned several businesses in town as well as property. E.B. was an outdoorsman and began to acquire land on Ames Hill, a short drive outside of town. E.B. built an expansive fruit orchard a large summer home, several barns and two cottages for his daughters on his property. Ames Hill became a place for family to visit and spend their summers. My mother, aunt and uncle even visited there throughout their childhood summers, as Jane's father and mother, Fred and Harriet, took over the homes.

To me, Ames Hill was our family's "Walton Mountain." I couldn't wait to see it and learn more.

For the past 20 years, I have uncovered the roots of the family from the time they made their way to the colonies and have been following the various branches throughout their changes. I've worked at gathering facts about their life stories primarily through using ancestry.com and newspapers.com. Most recently I've been concentrating my efforts on our family legacy from the Barrows branch that settled in Brattleboro, Vermont. My current mission has been to answer the question of why Peleg Barrows (1822-1890) chose to move himself and his family (E.B. Barrows being one of his sons) from Holmes Hole, Tisbury, Massachusetts (Martha's Vineyard) where he was well-established as a business owner and congregant, to Brattleboro, Vermont. My greatest hope is to compile enough information about the family to write a book.

I'm happy to have you along for the journey! Please reach out if you have questions or anything to add.