Foreword and Scans from The Walling Journal written by Susie Reed Briggs

Many scans of the Walling Journal are now on.  This journal was handwritten by my grandmother Susan Aylesworth Reed Stone Briggs Hisert.  She went by Susie Briggs for most of her adult life and that is the way I will refer to her or as Grandma Susie. From comments she made in the journal, I estimate it was written about 1960.

I knew of her interest in genealogy, but had no idea how much research she had done.  Imagine the amount of the word of mouth research she did to find much of this information.  I did find that she had also been to Albany to do research.

Even using Ancestry.com research, finding all the journal's treasure of information, has taken me many many hours through years, and even then many details were lacking.  Using a combination of the journal information, Find A Grave, and Ancestry.com, I hope to add more detail.  Give me a while to manage that part.  :0)  I also have many photos to add.

Until I get the addendum information onto this blog as planned, I'm posting the Foreword so you will know more about this blog.

Susie's Biography:

FOREWORD: The Walling Journal was SCANNED AND ORGANIZED BY DONNA (BOICE) DAVENPORT, granddaughter of the author. My beloved Grandma Susie (Susan Aylesworth Reed Stone Hisert) sure left a surprise in this journal.


Susie was born Feb. 23, 1888, the last of 6 children born to Irvin and Marcia Freel Reed in Burlington, NY on the Reed Farm which is located approximately 4 miles north of Garrattsville.
 Only 3 children lived to adulthood. 

 Susan Reed had two living siblings. Nellie and Arthur Reed both attended Oneonta Normal, now Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY.  Both were life long teachers. Grandma also taught school. On the 1920 census I found her listed as a teacher in Oneida, NY.  My mother, Margueriete, then 8 years old  was with her, while her 4 year old son Adrian, was with her parents in Burlington, NY.  Her husband, William Elhanan Stone had died in January 20, 1919 of the Spanish Flu during that epidemic.

Susie was married twice more,  To Frank Briggs in 1921-1936 and to Harry Hisert in 1969-1971.    

It would appear there were several generations of teachers in her family. Susie's Mother, Marcia Freel Reed and Grandmother Elizabeth Walling Freel were also teachers probably before they married.

 The Walling line comes through her mother. The line of ascent is Marcia, her mother Elizabeth Walling, daughter of Stephen P and Olive McLaughlin Walling. We think his parents were William Walling and his mother Caroline Gorton Walling, but we have been unable to prove that.

Following the naming tradition of their time, their first son was named David and first daughter, Mary (her father was David McLaughlin and her mother was Mary Holmes McLaughlin).  Their second daughter was named Olive Caroline and second son Stephen Palmer.  Their third son was named William Cornelius.  So, it is just an assumption that the Caroline and William Cornelius might have been after his parents.

Grandma Susie was interested in the genealogy of our family as long as I can recall, but I had no idea

the depth of her research until long after her death in 1971. I found some of that research when my

Aunt Mary Boice Gale died in 1997 when I inherited some 70 years of her extensive research.

It was about the year 2010 through my Ancestry.com information that a cousin living just 10 miles away found me.  She had a copy of the Walling Journal. I didn't know anything about the journal before that. What an exciting find! There are 3 handwritten journals that can be verified.

Considering the labor intensive way of gathering all of that data before computers, I was blown away by all the information included in the journals. Bless you Grandma Susie for all you did as one of the history keepers for our family.

The Walling family covered in this journal and blog are mainly from Otsego County in central NY State and to narrow it down more to Burlington and New Lisbon in the Butternut Valley which includes the valley from Burlington (once known as Burlington Green) south to Gilbertsville, NY.  Many of the family are buried at Butternut Valley Cemetery aka Brick School House Cemetery which is located 3 miles north of Garrattsville, NY.  The Brick House once was used for school during the week and church on Sunday.  It is now a private home.

Notes: There is more to this journal which includes the Aylsworth/Aylesworth, Stone, Parsons, and Harrington lines.  That is a future addition planned.

 Susie certainly must have known how to spell her middle name, Aylesworth. And it would appear she probably was named after her paternal grandmother, Susan (Aylsworth) Reed. Her Aylsworth line descended from Arthur Aylsworth. The author of “The Descendents of Arthur Aylsworth” was Dr. Homer Elhanan Aylsworth. He was related to Susan Aylsworth Reed.

The spelling of Aylsworth/Aylesworth varies by some family members, or it was put on tombstones in error.  The name of Aylsworth descendents often shows up as Aylesworth. Susie used the spelling Aylesworth, with the 'e' throughout her journal. I have found this often was the incorrect spelling. So, if you are looking for a relative of them, you might like to try looking for both spellings.

This is Grandma Susie's Find A Grave URL to see more of her history with links to her family.
Find A Grave Memorial for Susie Reed Briggs 1888-1971