The Ancestors

My Grandparents were hard working and typical of Beaver County. John Davidson was a carpenter; the Twyfords & Finzels were farmworkers. Grandma Smith was a farmer, maid and midwife. Mom's parents, Ethel & Alfred, both worked in J&L Steel, and Alfred died there. Dad's father, Howard, worked on coal trucks and started the garage, while 'Mum' raised chickens, sold eggs and owned a convenience store. Great Granddad Thomas Mann was a truck farmer & steel worker, but was also a wandering preacher who roamed with his kids back and forth to California twice in 1915 & 1920.

Ethel Smith & Alfred Mann

Minnie Galbraith, 'Grandma Smith'

Howard Davidson & Emma Finzel

Great Grandparents: Agnes Twyford, John Davidson, Cecelia Krau, Pete Finzel with Dad, Florence & John

Geneaology Links

Thomas A Mann, 'The Preacher'

Marker for William Carnegie, Beaver County, 1755-1841, my 5th GGrandfather. The flag is for his service in the Revolutionary War, 1773-1776. He ran a tavern for riverboat workers and travelers

Annual Re-enactment of how our ancestors arrived, held in Hookstown, Beaver County, near where my brother Jim lives.

Davidson plot in Veasy Cemetary on Kane Road, Hopewell Township.. This stone is for William Hamilton Davidson and Amanda Baker, my 2nd GGrandparents. Their farm was nearby.

Daughter Laurie at the Baker Memorial in Center Twp, Beaver County. George Baker and his son, Daniel, were the first settlers in the area, and were caputured by Indians, along with Daniel Boone, but sold to the British, who later exchanged them for other prisoners. There are two small flags at the top of the hill for their service in the Revolutionary War. My 5th & 4th GGrandfathers, respectively.

Some ancestors moved farther West, such as James Cain, a first cousin, who moved to Kokomo, Indiana, around the time of the Civil War. He was a harness maker, tanner and leather worker, a trade he picked up from his grandfather, Old John Cain, the early settler in Beaver County, also a Revolutionary War veteran.