This past Saturday, Lea & I met up with my brother Mike and his wife Shel for a wicked good time at the Highland Games in Brunswick, Maine. And a wicked good time it was! As expected, there were plenty of burly men in kilts throwing really heavy objects (although we did miss the caber toss), along with Border Collie demonstrations, food (we all skipped the haggis), Scottish wares and, of course, a couple of thousand Scotsmen.
The one thing we weren't expecting was having our ancestry turned upside-down. For years, my family had believed that part of our family was a sept of the MacKenzie Clan. To complicate things, we didn't know how he spelled his last name, which could have been any of the following: Hoag, Hoage, Hog, Hogg, or Hogue. It didn't really matter, because not one variation of that name is a sept of the MacKenzie Clan! There was only one way to get to the bottom of this: find the little bugger's grave.
We knew he was buried in a cemetary in South Portland, so Lea & I hit the road.
To say that the Forest City Cemetary in South Portland is big is like saying that the surface of the sun is hot. My heart sank as we pulled down one of the many roads amongst the graves. Nonetheless, we got out and started wandering.
Oh, and we also didn't know the years that he was alive, so we weren't sure what type of marker to look for, or whether or not we'd even be able to read it. And, after a long and fruitless search, we started walking back towards the truck. Which is when Lea said, "Hey there it is. John Henry Hoage."
So finally, a got to meet my great-great grandfather. And my great-great grandmother, too, as she was buried right beside him. Armed with the correct spelling and the years of birth and death, I hit the internet. And boy, what a difference a little information makes.
I found some records of him, as well as his children and grand children, and, even though I am still unable to tie him back to Scotland, I was pleased to find out that I am a Son of a Union soldier, although I'm still digging to find out in what capacity he served.
On an unrelated note, Lea & I went walking at the Pine State Arboreatum tonight. We saw a mama turkey and a papa turkey and about 8 baby turkeys and, in the same clearing, a mama deer with two babies. It was the most wildlife we've ever seen there at one time!
All right, it's nearing my bedtime. Must make one last google search on Hoage....
