Meet My Ancestors

Tonight is Samhain. It is All Hallows Eve. It is a night where the walls between this world and the next are thin. This is the night where the dead bleed through and if you wish to connect with them, you can listen to them, you can sense when they're present, and you can entice them to come. You can also make simple offerings to honor their place and presence in your life.

Because They Were...You Are.

I pour water in the glass cup on my Ancestor Altar. I light a candle in the fossil candle holder. It is the lighthouse guiding their way to me. I light more candles for specific prayers. I take in a breath and as I exhale I open my heart. I open myself to spirit world. I am not the lighthouse.

I am the light.  

I open to my Grandparents:  

Richard James Riddle & Donna MacDonald, my beloved dead
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Mark Dutcher Eaton, my beloved dead, & Ruth Emma Ruston
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Patricia Ann Art
~*~
~*~

I open to my Great-Grandparents:

Harold Riddle & Elsie Elizabeth Durant, my beloved dead
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Robert Joseph Art & Margaret Loretta Burke
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Frank William Ruston & Minnie Estelle Wicker
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Royal Levant Eaton & Hattie Eva Smith
~*~
~*~

I open to my Great-Great-Grandparents:

Frances & Lafayette are in the center, front.

Lafayette Riddle & Frances Ann Gillette
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George Frances Durant & Emma Louise Burnah
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George Art & Katherine Pils
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Frank Burke & Eliza Conners
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Ruth & Charles are in the center back.

Charles Evan Ruston & Ruth Ireland [both from England]
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Hiram & Emma are the center couple.

Hiram King Wicker & Emma Angeline Whitcher 
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Bennett Eaton & Theresa Cordelia Tenney
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Silas Parker Smith & Hattie Eva Dutcher
~*~
~*~

I open to my Great-Great-Great-Grandparents:

Marquise DeLafayette Riddle & Sarah Clickner
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Levi & Jane are seated in the second row.

Levi Gillette & Jane Berry
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Albert Durant & Rosella LaValley [both from Quebec]
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Samuel Burnah [from Quebec] & Mary Fortin
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Adam Art & Catherine Blume [both from Germany]
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John Pils & Mary Burzee [both from Germany]
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Thomas Burke & Ellen
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David Conners & Mary Dowd [both from Ireland]
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Richard Ruston & Anna Richardson [both from England]
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William Ireland & Phoebe Lenton [both from England]
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Thaddeus Rice Wicker & Cynthia Lusk
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Bailey Harrison Whitcher & Ordelia de Lozier
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Solomon Gould Eaton & Hannah Ann Treadwell
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Philetus Tenny & Malvina H. Targee
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Ammi Smith & Sophia Sears
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Reuben Feagles Dutcher & Eliza Marsh Bird
~*~
~*~
I open to my Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandparents:

Joshua Eaton & Lucy Gould
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Solomon P. Treadwell & Fermicy Peters
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Hiram Tenney & Esther Sally Tillotson
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Thomas Targee & Eleanor Smith
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David Smith & Betsey
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Heman Sears & Clarissa Dubois
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Martin Dutcher & Cynthia Ann Feagles
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Manly Bird & Irene Pond Marsh
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Edward Ruston & Jane Brooks
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Thomas Richardson & wife
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John Ireland & wife
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John Lenton & Mary Wilson
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Pliny Wicker & Chloe Morgan
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Elizur Lusk & Mary A.
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Simeon Whitcher & Dorcas Kittredge
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Peter de Lozier P.O.W. & Lucy Raymond
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Freeborn Moulton Riddle & Abigail Chaffee
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Wilhemus C. Clickner & Anna Maria Hayner
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Ezra Wheeler Gillette & Mary Ann Boots
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Francis Berry & Elizabeth Ann Hill
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George Durant & Safrona (from PQ)
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Francois Xavier Paquet Lavallee & Rosella LaRoche (from PQ)
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George Arth & Wilhemina Wernersbach (both from Germany)
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Heinrich Blum & Margaretha Hesse (both from Germany)
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John Burke & Ann Scott (from Ireland)
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Barney Dowd (from Ireland)

I open to my ancestors, known and unknown. I open the front door. The air is cold and tinged with winter. I invite all who wish us no ill to enter and celebrate the night.

I ask my Ancestors to welcome in the spirits of the Recent Dead, of my beloved college friend Dave Bova. I ask them to watch over our community friends Sue Curewitz Arthen, James Johnson, Lorna Tibbetts, and Janet Rae McKee Banks. And may her family welcome my great-aunt Donna Riddle Mauri back into their embrace.

Leave offerings of food and liquor, of earthly things that smell strong and potent, of tobacco and candies. Leave them fresh, filtered water. Listen to the whisperings of the shadows. Feel peace fill your heart.

Let the candles burn low. Pay attention to your dreamings. The dead have things they wish to say.

Blessed Samhain. Happy Halloween.